Mamata's new strategy

Subhrangshu Gupta

Mamata Banerjee The BJP's rapid spread in Bengal has been a cause of concern to Mamata Banerjee. Already, due to the CBI's cracking down on her party MPs and other leaders, Mamata is disturbed and shattered. And the communal forces' fast growing has been adding to her worries. The BJP has already launched a drive for" conquering Bengal and other eastern states."
Mamata wants all the anti-BJP parties in the country, irrespective of their political and ideological differences , should stand together and fight against the saffron party. She is ready to welcome the CPI(M) to the front, to which, she hopes, her archrival party will also positively respond .
So long, Mamata alone has been crying foul against Narendra Modi and the saffron brigade. But now she finds by her side, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Lallu Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal and a host of other secular party leaders . The CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechuri already agreed to join in the anti-BJP front.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Lallu Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Arvind Kejriwal and Sitaram Yechuri Mamata alleges she and her party men have been the victims of Narendra Modi's highhandedness and political vendetta. Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul have been targeted in the "illegal" property deal of the National Herald. Criminal charges were also made against Sonia's son-in-law, Robert Vadhera in the land acquiring case.
Recently, Lallu Yadav and his sons and daughters were dragged into the court on the charges of possession of crores of unaccounted money and illegal properties. Former finance minister P Chidambaran and his son Kriti had been implicated in the 2G scam. The CBI conducted raids in Chidambaran's houses and other offices at Chennai and other places.
All the opposition parties now come together on the eve of the election of the country's new president. They want to select one c o n s e n s u s candidate from their side against the o f f i c i a l candidate. Mamata, like all other leaders, is aware that with their present strength in parliament and the states, the BJP can easily get their c a n d i d a t e e l e c t e d smoothly in the c o m i n g p r e s i d e n t i a l election, when the incumbent Pranab Mukherjee's term expires in July. Still the opposition party leaders are meeting over the presidential election in an attempt to form an anti-BJP front for fighting jointly against the BJP in the 2019 lok sabha poll. It will be a forum for the opposition parties for uniting and strengthening themselves.
Like Sonia, Mamata is also in deep trouble in the wake of the CBI's cracking down on the TMC MPs and other leaders on corruption issues. Already, over two dozen TMC leaders including several ministers, MPs, MLAs and other leaders have been under the scanner of the CBI and the enforcement directorate for their involvement in the Sarada and Narada's multi-crore rupee scams. The chief minister herself is not out of the suspect list of these central investigating agencies.

The TMC leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandpadhyya and another MP, Tapash Pal are in jail, while some other MPs like Kunal Ghosh, the party vicepresident Rajat Mojumdar, an ex- IPS and Srinjoy Bose, editor and proprietor of a leading Bengali daily in Kolkata, are also on bail. The enquiries against are on.

There are people who claim that earlier the BJP had no base in Bengal. They allege it was Mamata who had invited the BJP in the state in the nineties for using the saffron party as her weapon for fighting against the CPI(M) and the Congress.

Bose, however, resigned from the party and the Lok Sabha. Another Rayya Sabha MP, the Bollywood actor, Mithun Chakraborty had returned Rs 2.25 crore to the enforcement directorate which he had collected from the Sarada group as his remuneration for conducting some commercial programme in the Sarada's TV channel. Mithun also tendered his resignation from the Rayya Sabha.
Mamata alleges the BJP has been destroying the country's unity, integrity and sovereignty. They are trying to divide the nation on the communal card and making India a Hindu rastra.
There are people who claim that earlier the BJP had no base in Bengal. They allege it was Mamata who had invited the BJP in the state in the nineties for using the saffron party as her weapon for fighting against the CPI(M) and the Congress.
In the late nineties, when she severed her relation with the Congress and formed her new party, she needed the BJP by her side. At that time she also joined the Vajpayee government with the coveted railway portfolio.
History says the BJP existed in Bengal as Jana Sangh - the party which the Hindu Mahasabha leader Dr Shyamaprasad Mookherjee founded on April 8, 1950 after tendering his resigning from the central government, in protest against Nehru's "mishandling of the Kashmir issue".
In the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, Dr Mookherjee and Durga Charan Bandopadhyya were also elected from West Bengal as Jana Sangha candidates. In the state Assembly polls in 1952 also, the party won 9 seats, though it contested 81 of the then 238 seats.
The BJP in the new form came into existence in 1980 with Vajpayee as it's president and the Janata party leaders, Ram Jethmalani, Shanti Bhusan and Sikhender Bakhat as the vicepresident. At that time, Vijaya Raje Scindia, L K Advani, Dr Murli Monohar Joshi and S S Bhandari, the three RSS leaders, were inducted into the party.
In 1977, the Congress( O), Bharatiya Lok Dal(BLD), Jana Sangha and socialist party were merged to form the Janata Party. Several veteran Congress leaders like P.C Sen (former Congress chief minister), Dr Pratap Chunder Chandra, Ashoke Krishna Dutt, Ajoy Mukherjee and Sushil Dhara of Bangla Congress and many others were the members of the Janata party.
But the party could not grow much in the subsequent years in Bengal and other parts in the country at the same pace with the Congress(l), the CPI(M) and other regional parties. The BJP also could not win any seat in 1957, 1962 polls and in 1967 election, it won only one seat. In the 1969, 1971 and 1972 elections, the BJP failed to win any seat.
In the 1977 election two prominent Jana Sangha leaders, Dr Haripada Bharati and Dr Bishnukanta Shastri were elected to the state in the Assembly. Both were very eminent persons and they were professors in two important degree colleges in the city.Mamata joined the BJP government with the coveted railway ministry's portfolio in 1996 under A B Vajpayee's prime ministership and she also made electoral adjustment with the BJP in the state assembly polls in which two BJP leaders and an MP( Tapan Sikdar) were elected. At that time, the TMC chief had to take that strategy for combating the CPI(M) and also the Congress.

Mamata alleges the BJP has been destroying the country's unity, integrity and sovereignty. They are trying to divide the nation on the communal card and making India a Hindu rastra.

In the changed situation, Mamata opted to a new strategy against the BJP, which many of her political adversaries, might not like. A section in the state Congress and also the CPI(M) have a strong reservation against Mamata's move. But the central leadership of both the Congress and the CPI(M) have welcomed Mamata's move and they want to jointly fight against the BJP as they find the BJP as their common enemy : an enemy of the nation.



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Mamata wants all the anti-BJP parties in the country, irrespective of their political and ideological differences , should stand together and fight against the saffron party. She is ready to welcome the CPI(M) to the front, to which, she hopes, her archrival party will also positively respond . So long, Mamata alone has been crying foul against Narendra Modi and the saffron brigade. But now she finds by her side, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Lallu Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal and a host of other secular party leaders . The CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechuri already agreed to join in the anti-BJP front. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Lallu Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Arvind Kejriwal and Sitaram Yechuri Mamata alleges she and her party men have been the victims of Narendra Modi's highhandedness and political vendetta. Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul have been targeted in the "illegal" property deal of the National Herald. Criminal charges were also made against Sonia's son-in-law, Robert Vadhera in the land acquiring case. Recently, Lallu Yadav and his sons and daughters were dragged into the court on the charges of possession of crores of unaccounted money and illegal properties. Former finance minister P Chidambaran and his son Kriti had been implicated in the 2G scam. The CBI conducted raids in Chidambaran's houses and other offices at Chennai and other places. All the opposition parties now come together on the eve of the election of the country's new president. They want to select one c o n s e n s u s candidate from their side against the o f f i c i a l candidate. Mamata, like all other leaders, is aware that with their present strength in parliament and the states, the BJP can easily get their c a n d i d a t e e l e c t e d smoothly in the c o m i n g p r e s i d e n t i a l election, when the incumbent Pranab Mukherjee's term expires in July. Still the opposition party leaders are meeting over the presidential election in an attempt to form an anti-BJP front for fighting jointly against the BJP in the 2019 lok sabha poll. It will be a forum for the opposition parties for uniting and strengthening themselves. Like Sonia, Mamata is also in deep trouble in the wake of the CBI's cracking down on the TMC MPs and other leaders on corruption issues. Already, over two dozen TMC leaders including several ministers, MPs, MLAs and other leaders have been under the scanner of the CBI and the enforcement directorate for their involvement in the Sarada and Narada's multi-crore rupee scams. The chief minister herself is not out of the suspect list of these central investigating agencies. The TMC leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandpadhyya and another MP, Tapash Pal are in jail, while some other MPs like Kunal Ghosh, the party vicepresident Rajat Mojumdar, an ex- IPS and Srinjoy Bose, editor and proprietor of a leading Bengali daily in Kolkata, are also on bail. The enquiries against are on. There are people who claim that earlier the BJP had no base in Bengal. They allege it was Mamata who had invited the BJP in the state in the nineties for using the saffron party as her weapon for fighting against the CPI(M) and the Congress. Bose, however, resigned from the party and the Lok Sabha. Another Rayya Sabha MP, the Bollywood actor, Mithun Chakraborty had returned Rs 2.25 crore to the enforcement directorate which he had collected from the Sarada group as his remuneration for conducting some commercial programme in the Sarada's TV channel. Mithun also tendered his resignation from the Rayya Sabha. Mamata alleges the BJP has been destroying the country's unity, integrity and sovereignty. They are trying to divide the nation on the communal card and making India a Hindu rastra. There are people who claim that earlier the BJP had no base in Bengal. They allege it was Mamata who had invited the BJP in the state in the nineties for using the saffron party as her weapon for fighting against the CPI(M) and the Congress. In the late nineties, when she severed her relation with the Congress and formed her new party, she needed the BJP by her side. At that time she also joined the Vajpayee government with the coveted railway portfolio. History says the BJP existed in Bengal as Jana Sangh - the party which the Hindu Mahasabha leader Dr Shyamaprasad Mookherjee founded on April 8, 1950 after tendering his resigning from the central government, in protest against Nehru's "mishandling of the Kashmir issue". In the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, Dr Mookherjee and Durga Charan Bandopadhyya were also elected from West Bengal as Jana Sangha candidates. In the state Assembly polls in 1952 also, the party won 9 seats, though it contested 81 of the then 238 seats. The BJP in the new form came into existence in 1980 with Vajpayee as it's president and the Janata party leaders, Ram Jethmalani, Shanti Bhusan and Sikhender Bakhat as the vicepresident. At that time, Vijaya Raje Scindia, L K Advani, Dr Murli Monohar Joshi and S S Bhandari, the three RSS leaders, were inducted into the party. In 1977, the Congress( O), Bharatiya Lok Dal(BLD), Jana Sangha and socialist party were merged to form the Janata Party. Several veteran Congress leaders like P.C Sen (former Congress chief minister), Dr Pratap Chunder Chandra, Ashoke Krishna Dutt, Ajoy Mukherjee and Sushil Dhara of Bangla Congress and many others were the members of the Janata party. But the party could not grow much in the subsequent years in Bengal and other parts in the country at the same pace with the Congress(l), the CPI(M) and other regional parties. The BJP also could not win any seat in 1957, 1962 polls and in 1967 election, it won only one seat. In the 1969, 1971 and 1972 elections, the BJP failed to win any seat. In the 1977 election two prominent Jana Sangha leaders, Dr Haripada Bharati and Dr Bishnukanta Shastri were elected to the state in the Assembly. Both were very eminent persons and they were professors in two important degree colleges in the city.Mamata joined the BJP government with the coveted railway ministry's portfolio in 1996 under A B Vajpayee's prime ministership and she also made electoral adjustment with the BJP in the state assembly polls in which two BJP leaders and an MP( Tapan Sikdar) were elected. At that time, the TMC chief had to take that strategy for combating the CPI(M) and also the Congress. Mamata alleges the BJP has been destroying the country's unity, integrity and sovereignty. They are trying to divide the nation on the communal card and making India a Hindu rastra. In the changed situation, Mamata opted to a new strategy against the BJP, which many of her political adversaries, might not like. A section in the state Congress and also the CPI(M) have a strong reservation against Mamata's move. But the central leadership of both the Congress and the CPI(M) have welcomed Mamata's move and they want to jointly fight against the BJP as they find the BJP as their common enemy : an enemy of the nation.