This year’s Assembly election in West Bengal is probably one of the most intensely contested one. The ruling Trinamul Congress is pitted against the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is putting in all resources to win over the state.
One of the issues, which both the ruling and its principal opposition party is harping on is social security, security for women and promise to drive out fear.
The BJP is assuring “Bhoy Out Bhorosa In”, while the TMC is telling the voters that if the BJP comes to power in the state, they will stop welfare schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar and will dictate them what to eat and what not. On one hand TMC is highlighting how the “Bangla-Birodhi BJP” will dismantle the Bengali Asmita (pride), the BJP, on the other, is reminding how the Bengal’s demography is fast changing due to infiltration and that the Hindus will be in minority in the years to come.
The TMC is showcasing the economic distress to the people due to Centre’s blocking of funds for the state, While the BJP focusses on state’s misuse of Central funds. Both the political parties are dwelling on identity politics.
Issues of fear dominate development in this election.
Presidency University political science professor Zaad Mahmood believes both the issues work as both the parties are trying to do ‘affected politics’ — trying to build on people’s emotions. One emotion is hope, aspiration and betterment. The other is deterioration, a worse kind of a situation. Both of them have been sending both the messages. “The politics is transactional ~ if we are here, no fear. In its appeal and rhetoric, it is polarising, which both parties are indulging in. The BJP is setting the narrative as they are more powerful and the opposition has to respond to it,” said Prof Mahmood.
Dr Ambar Kumar Ghosh, a non-resident Fellow, European Partnership for Democracy, Brussels, and who has been studying Indian democracy, feels the political narrative is pandering to the deep ethnic insecurities, social prejudices, already there in people. They are just amplifying them. “This might look as a very potent and successful strategy but it also has its own limitations. A time would come when people would start asking real questions (of development). In the post 2024 Lok Sabha poll analysis we found that there was a lot of disenchantment with real developmental concerns. So, xenophobia, social insecurity might work in the short term, but it might turn into a Frankenstein and cause its own harm later,” said Dr Ghosh.
He gives the example of Rahul Gandhi, who first coined the word ‘vote chori’ and later did a Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar before the state went for elections. “But he could not market it properly. Whereas Mamata has used SIR as a weapon very successfully to build up the fear narrative. She has ensured that SIR plays a dominant role in this poll, so much so that the issues of governance took a backseat,” clarifies Dr Ghosh.
The Trinamul Congress justifies the fear. They cite instances, where Bengalis and Bengal have been aggrieved. Instances of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states being harassed are talked about by the party, leading to the narrative. TMC spokesperson Dr Santanu Sen says TMC chief Mamata Banerjee doesn’t only promise, she delivers. Just before the 2021 election, she promised to start the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. She kept her promise after coming to power. “On the contrary, in Delhi nearly one and a half years back, the Prime Minister announced that if they come into power in Delhi, they will be giving Rs 2,500 to each and every woman. Not a single penny has been given. In Bihar, before the election, violating the model code of conduct, everyone was given Rs 10,000. After the election, they are asking for the money back. In Odisha, they launched a project called Subhadra Yojana, which promised to give Rs 5,000. Not a single woman in Orissa has received ₹5000. So, all these prove that whatever the BJP promises before the election, they never, never follow the same. That’s why we have been saying that if the BJP, by chance, comes to power, they will stop all these social projects,” said Dr Sen.
He added that the BJP has openly come out with a policy that they will be doing NRC, unconstitutionally they have deleted names of nearly 91 lakh voters, especially 27 lakh in the name of logical discrepancy, just to own Bengal. “So, people are scared that if they don’t exercise their voting rights, the Central government might bar them from being a citizen of India,” said Dr Sen.
He says in Maharashtra, in the name of Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, the BJP promised to give Rs 1,500 to each and every woman. “But, in the name of logical discrepancy or statistical discrepancy, they deleted names of nearly 90 lakh women voters,” he adds.
The TMC spokesperson says only the BJP is responsible for this fear in the people that the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme will stop, if they come to power. “That’s why women are voting in such large numbers against the BJP this election,” he said.
Dr Sen says Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the party have been consistently telling the people that the state government has done so much developmental work despite the Centre’s step-motherly treatment and the Centre holding back nearly Rs 2 lakh crore which the state govt deserves.
The BJP too defends its “Bhoy Out, Bhorosa In” tagline, adding that people want development and a good life. State party president and MP Samik Bhattacharya said: “The BJP means development. Voters would ultimately prioritise development over the politics of fear. This time the politics of fear peddled by the TMC is not working. BJP stands for development and we have already announced in our manifesto that we will provide Rs 3,000 to women as part of a direct cash incentive scheme.”
Moreover, we want to focus on big industries that can generate jobs and create employment for the thousands of unemployed here.
