by Rajat Roy in CalcuttaM
AMATA Banerjee is that classic cusp figure in Indian
politics. She answers perfectly to the description of a
‘regional’ leader, but has always threatened to take on
a national profile. Before the elections, she even
fashioned herself as a prospective prime minister, the
fulcrum of an anti-BJP front. Despite her arrantly
provincial bearing—very Bengali in her persona and in the
politics—she has a national brand recall. When her state
government faces a crisis, as is happening now, she makes
headlines not just in Calcutta, but in Delhi and Bangalore too.
She cut her teeth in politics in the rough and tumble of Youth
Congress, as the quintessential street-fighter—four decades
later, that still defines her. After her rise in parliamentary
politics in 1984, she did what was thought inconceivable—van-
quishing the powerful Left in its very fastness, crafting a street
credo that cracked both high-minded Communist theory and
its often cynical practice on the ground. But now she is engaged
in a mother of all battles, and it’s coming from the ground.
After being in power for eight years as an undisputed helmswoman,
she is facing a new enemy, the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, a party that had a marginal presence in Bengal. Yet, the BJP has
grown into a massive force, even threatening to unseat Mamata—a
prospect as impossible as her own triumph against the Left. Winning
18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the BJP’s voteshare
in 2019 has surged to 40 per cent from a mere 17 per cent in 2014—
some 2.30 crore votes, compared to 55 lakh five years ago. Yes, a lot offor ascendancy in the state
1 July 2019 OUTLOOK 29
Photo-imaging by LEELA