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Modi and the ‘teen deviyan’

Mayawati too has this dream of becoming the prime minister and her party has already declared her candidature.

Modi and the ‘teen deviyan’

Modi may not forget the ‘Teen deviyan’ for a long time whether he wins or loses. (SNS)

Congress President Rahul Gandhi might not be a match to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ in oratory but the “Teen Deviyan” (three ladies) – West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, former UP chief minister Mayawati and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – gave him enough nightmares during the campaign that has just ended.

Like Modi they also talked to the voters directly. Modi has given Mamata Banerjee a chance to go back to confrontational politics, which is what she is best at. The negative and virulent election campaign was at its lowest level. Mamata gave back as well as she got it and Modi has seen his match in her.

Modi had alleged in the course of the campaign that Mamata thinks Bengal is her fiefdom. Fearing that the BJP was trying to find a foothold in Bengal the poll battle had reached its peak in the last leg of the elections. The Election Commission has even shortened the poll campaign in an unprecedented manner in the state in view of the violence created by the goons of both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.

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The Prime Minister called Mamata a speed breaker CM. Mamata called him a liar daring Modi, “Let him prove his allegations. Or else we will drag them to jail. We have all the documents.” The BJP is trying to get double-digit number of seats improving its two seats in 2014 while Mamata wants to retain her 34 seats and improve if possible.

Mamata, who won the 2011 Assembly polls ending 33 years of Left rule in the state and repeated the performance in 2016, does not want to give up her hold. She has already finished the Left and the Congress and wants to crush BJP too.

Moreover, Mamata is a prime ministerial aspirant if there is a hung Parliament and if she could get 30 plus seats.Mamata has befriended practically every regional satrap -Chandrababu Naidu, Akhilesh, Mayawati, Stalin, Lalu Prasad, Jagan Mohan, KCR, Sharad Pawar, Sharad Yadav, Deve Gowda and his son Kumarawamy.

Known as the Dalit Queen, BSP chief Mayawati has been fighting for survival. If she does not do well in these elections she might lose her political power, as her party got zero seats in 2014 and 19 Assembly seats in 2017. For the BJP, which got 73 out of 80 seats in 2014, it is crucial to retain its tally or at least most of it. To remain relevant politically Mayawati had even agreed to align with the Samajwadi Party in these polls. She is confident that the mahagadbandhan – the alliance between the BSP, SP and Rashtirya Lok Dal – would do well in UP.

The fight is between the mahagadbandhan and the BJP while the Congress is playing a poor third. She has been attacking the Prime Minister and the BJP in her campaign speeches. In a scathing personal attack on Modi, Mayawati said, “I have come to know that in BJP, married women get scared when they see their husbands going near PM Modi. They fear that like Modi they might also abandon their wives.”

Mamata too echoed this charge against Modi in her campaign speech. The two leaders have been supportive of each other in the campaign. Mayawati charged, “During Lok Sabha elections Mamata Banerjee and her government are being targeted under a conspiracy to divert people’s attention from failures of the Modi government.” Mayawati too has this dream of becoming the prime minister and her party has already declared her candidature.

SP chief Akilesh Yadav has also supported her claim in case there is a hung parliament. Both leaders think that the Congress would support a government led by Mayawati or Mamata.

The third woman leader who is no less fierce is the Congress General secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but she is not a prime ministerial aspirant, at least this time. Though she joined politics only in January, she seems to have taken the challenge head-on, taking the fight to Modi’s den Varanasi on a motorboat that traversed the Ganges and later on held an impressive road show in the city on the eve of polling.

She stood up to the ruling party. From Modi’s “Bhrashtachari no. 1” taunt at Rajiv Gandhi to her ‘Duryodana’ retort shows the poll rhetoric has become shriller. Taking on the prime minister directly she asked him in a rally “After 5 years of being in power, you do not have a single achievement to show. The only things you say are ‘Nehru did this’, ‘Indira did this’…. Modi ji, what did you do?” While the other two leaders have already proved themselves, Priyanka is yet to prove her leadership.

Though there was much election rhetoric, Modi had never faced such scathing attacks, particularly from women. He may not forget the ‘Teen deviyan’ for a long time whether he wins or loses.

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