Mamata is not Invincible
Nidhu Bhusan Das
"In an autocracy,one person has his way".
-Celia Green
Should it be seen as a simple downturn soon to turn into an upswing,or the beginning of a countdown to the final collapse? The sharp decline of Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the recent Lok Sabha polls from 34 seats won in 2014 to 22 in 2019 is an evidence of the erosion of popular support for the party and it's omnipotent leader.The redoubtable Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms Banerjee is identified as the supremo of the party which in 2011 dethroned the apparently invincible Left Front which ruled West Bengal for 34 years with iron grip as typical of the communist dispensation.While in the Left Front,constituents like the CPI(M) has the Stalinist dictatorship in the name of democratic centralism in place,AITC is blessed with the supremo who has the iron grip in the party and the Government. Such iron grip has the inherent weakness and faultline which cannot ultimately hold together the organisational structure and edifice of power.Once the grip begins to loosen, the structure exposes it's cracks and cleavages hidden so long meticulously by the ring of sycophants.Autocracy thrives under sycophancy.
The syndrome of inferiority complex is,perhaps, the hallmark of an autocrat.This syndrome finds expression in the desire to occupy every space to show the person's grandeur in omnipresence. Mamata Banerjee has presented herself as a polymath-poet,essayist,painter,song writer and a prolific author,besides being a politician.She claims she runs her party with funds received as royalty from her books and huge proceeds from the sales of her paintings.
Arrogance and stubbornness are the twin attributes of autocracy.Ms Banerjee shows her dogged determination to pursue her policy of minority appeasement to the chagrin of the majority and the enlightened section of the minority.An autocrat breaks but does not bend.The breakdown of Ms Banerjee is likely to be the natural consequence if she fails to reason why her party had to yield a huge space to BJP in the parliamentary polls.
The decline,it is obvious, set in for the following reasons:
01.The explicit minority appeasement .
02. The alleged rampant corruption in the form of syndicate raj and extortion by party workers, and bribery at different levels of party and administration.
03.The alleged inaction in respect of enforcing law against crime and criminals.
04.The resultant disenchantment of the people.
05.The deprivation of a large number of rural people in many areas from exercising their right to vote in the Panchayat polls accelerated the disenchantment.
06. An inevitable huge Hindu backlash against the overt and assertive minority appeasement.
06.The over-assertiveness of Muslims in many places,especially in the border areas.
07.The perceived infiltration of NRC affected Muslims from Assam and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar via Bangladesh and their settlement in the state went against the ruling party.
07.The impudent and vituperative language of the ruling party supremo against Prime Minister Modi
offended many in the electorate.
08. Intra-party clash and squabble weakened the party.
If a judicious policy and well thought out strategy are not put in place, the decline may lead to the collapse of the party in the next democratic exercises like the municipal elections and the Assembly elections of 2021.BJP's win of 18 Lok Sabha seats is equivalent to 126 assembly seats in the Assembly of 294 seats.Trinamool Congress is no longer on a strong wicket and invincible.It is already decimated.
