Wave for change ends 34-year CPI-M era; Mamata to become chief minister
Riding the crest of a wave for paribartan (change), Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress stormed to power in West Bengal defeating the Communist government that had been in power since 1977.
With the historic election victory, she is set to become the state’s first woman chief minister. Her rival West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee resigned soon after losing his seat in Jadavpur of south Kolkata.
As vote counting of elections to legislative assemblies in five Indian states was being completed, Trinamool Congress and Congress secured three-fourths majority in West Bengal while India’s ruling Congress headed by Sonia Gandhi retained power for a third consecutive term in Assam. Congress wrested back the reins from Left parties in Kerala with the help of Indian Union of Muslim League.
In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Congress’ ally at the Centre Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK), led by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, was routed by its arch rival All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK), which regained power winning an emphatic majority in the 234-member assembly.
In Puducherry, Congress lost power to a new outfit formed by a party rebel a few months ago which combined with AIADMK to secure two-thirds majority in assembly.
But the biggest election story was undoubtedly the demolition of CPI (M)-led Left Front after an uninterrupted 34-year rule.
Mamata likened her party’s victory to a “second freedom” for the people of West Bengal from “three decades of Communist oppression, exploitation and injustice”.
Out of the 294 assembly seats, Trinamool Congress, led by 56-year-old Mamata, and its ally Congress won 226 seats while CPI (M) and its allies were reduced to just 60 from more than 200 seats won in the previous elections.
Trinamool alone got a very comfortable majority in the assembly with 184 seats while Congress secured 42 seats. Others won the remaining eight seats.
Mamata, now India’s railway minister, said she would invite Congress to join her coalition government.
Such was the anti-Left sweep in West Bengal that all its top leaders including chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the state’s finance minister Asim Dasgupta bit the dust. Other Marixst stalwarts who lost were industries minister Nirupam Sen and high-profile but controversial Gautam Deb. In Kolkata and several other districts of West Bengal, the Left failed to win even a single seat.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni called Mamata, who was savouring the victory with her aides and supporters at her Kolkata residence.
They felicitated her.
“Hasina called me and congratulated us on behalf of the people of Bangladesh,” Mamata told the media in Kolkata.
“I told her [Hasina] that relations between the two countries have been there since the time of Bangabandhu [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman] and that we will work together…,” Mamata said.
“I quoted Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Amar Sonar Bangla Ami Tomay Bhalobashi’ [the national anthem of Bangladesh] and told her that both Bangladesh and West Bengal will flourish,” she said.
Mamata said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi also congratulated her on her party’s poll triumph. “Manmohan told me that he was overwhelmed by the electoral victory.”
In her first remarks to the media after the landmark victory, Mamata said, “It was a victory for democracy, people and ‘maa, mati maanush’ [mother, soil and people].”
She dedicated her party’s win to the people and poets Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Outside Mamata’s modest tile-roofed home, on a narrow lane in Kalighat of South Kolkata, thousands of jubilant Trinamool Congress supporters gathered blowing conch, beating drums and setting off crackers to celebrate the party’s victory.
By contrast, it was a sombre scene at 32 Alimuddin Street, where the CPI(M) state headquarters is located. The place was virtually deserted.
Amidst apprehension of violence, Mamata appealed for peace and asked her party supporters to be restrained and not to fall prey to provocations for untoward incidents.
She said now her top most priority is development of West Bengal and “restoration of peace”.
CPI (M) State Secretary Biman Bose said the results were unexpected.
Biman said, “We have grass-roots attachment to the people but they did not speak out and as such we could not assess the situation.”
He said, “Yesterday, we had predicted a comfortable win for the Left Front on the basis of analysis…but we have been proved wrong.”
“The results were unexpected. But we will co-operate with any pro-people and democratic move by the new government,” he said.
He said the Left Front would play the role of a responsible and constructive opposition in the House.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
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