Over the past few days, there has been a huge uproar across the country regarding two campaign issues related to West Bengal legislative assembly elections. These issues are being portrayed in such a way as if Bengalis in West Bengal are extremely angry with people of other states. Personally, I feel that these two issues unnecessarily denigrate Bengalis in India.
The first issue is TMC’s political campaign claiming that fish and meat will be banned if the BJP comes to power in West Bengal. I was astonished that so many social media posts across the country spread this issue over the few two days but they did not mention that Tripura, which ranks first in the country in per capita fish consumption, has been governed by the BJP for the last eight years. Nor has meat production or consumption banned in BJP-ruled states.
The second issue, although used in the 2021 elections, has resurfaced again in the national media after a recent press conference by a TMC MP, revolving around the “non-Bengali” or “outsider” narrative. This MP criticized BJP leaders for mispronouncing names such as Bankim da and Rabindranath Sanyal. But didn’t TMC feel any shame about what CM Mamata Banerjee said publicly about Ramakrishna? She mixed up two of Ramakrishna’s famous advices, “Joto Mot,Toto Path” (acceptance of religious diversity) and “Taka Mati, Mati Taka” (comparing money with mud) – and instead said in a public meeting, “Joto Taka toto Mati” (As much soil, so much money). That statement may reflect TMC’s political ideology, but Bengalis are ashamed of such a distortion of Ramkrishna’s teachings.
TMC is deliberately promoting issues like these to divert attention from the real issues. But what are the real issues Mamata Banerjee is trying to hide from the rest of the nation?
Any media visiting any large fish market within a 30 km radius of Kolkata will understand that most fishes in West Bengal are outsourced from Andhra Pradesh. Fish farmers in rural Bengal, whether small or large, have to sell their fish locally. Yet surprisingly, West Bengal is the second-highest contributor to India’s fish exports. If rural fish farmers sell locally and Andhra’s supplied fish meets daily demand, then where is the export fish from West Bengal coming from?
For 34 years, communist rule in West Bengal portrayed the central government as the enemy, despite its key contributions to the state’s education, infrastructure, and industrial development. Unfortunately, even after the change of power in 2011, Mamata Banerjee’s government has continued to escalate opposition to the central government for political gain. Since 2014, Mamata Banerjee has focused on freebies to win elections. West Bengal, despite being the fourth largest state by population, lags far behind Gujarat in GDP and ranks 24th in per capita income. She blocked key central schemes like Ayushman Bharat, halted SEZs, opposed FDI, and stalled infrastructure projects, including metro and airport expansion. Rampant corruption and mismanagement have increased unemployment, leaving 26,000 government teachers jobless, with many cases still pending in the court.
Under such circumstances, Mamata Banerjee played up these two above-mentioned issues to win election. Firstly, she is turning non-issues to serious issues to divert people’s mind. Secondly, out of insecurity of losing minority votes, she has been spreading baseless lies that BJP will target minorities and deport them from the country. In 2021 assembly election, she utilized CAA as a tool to spread this fear and now she has picked up SIR. Her ruthless attack on BJP central leadership as outsider is nothing but an attempt in securing her minorities vote bank.
The law-and-order situation in the state has raised concerns nationwide, especially after an incident in which an honorable judge was left distressed when her convoy was attacked during protests that also led to national highways being blocked. The situation might have become more serious, drawing comparisons to earlier violent incidents like the killing of Harogibindo Das and Chandan Das in Murshidabad, if the Election Commission of India had not been on the scene.
Repeated incidents of violence in Murshidabad do not appear isolated but rather suggest a pattern. Given the district’s strategic location, control over it could potentially affect connectivity between the northern and southern parts of the state. Additionally, neighboring districts such as Malda to the north and Birbhum to the south have undergone notable demographic changes over time. So, Mamata Banerjee’s tactics appear to follow the playbook of focusing on distractions and using intimidation to suppress voters’ rights in order to win the election.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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