Carry on the good work
7 Jun 2012 1:28 AM GMT
When four out of six seats are bagged by a single party in an election it is enough indication that the party is in command. But if it’s TMC in Bengal circa 2012, the results are largely expected and hence the implications are clear: the ruling party is on a roll, thanks to the appeal and reach of its leader Mamata Banerjee. More so, because her win in the politically sensitive or important municipalities like Dhupguri, Nalhati, Panskura and Durgapore is her first major triumph after the historic change of guard last year when Banerjee-led TMC trounced the once-formidable Left Front after a record-breaking 34 years in power. The Congress has managed Cooper’s Camp in Nadia district and CPM has managed one – the controversial seat of Haldia.
Mamata’s one year in power has not been without controversies but she has shown characteristic verve and command to stay on track and steer the debt-ridden state she had inherited into an era of prosperity and well-being. And the results of the civic polls carry enough indication that the people are with her and share her optimism of better days that the state is going to see after reeling under the weight of bad governance under the Left for far too long.
Also, the TMC victory in the industrial town of Durgapur is being hailed as an indication that the TMC supremo’s anti-industry image, which has stuck to her since the Singur imbroglio is on the wane and she is founding acceptance also as a leader of the urban demography.
Some TMC leaders are insisting that since they went alone in the civic polls, without any arrangement with the Congress and have swept it. It is time that the party should review its partnership with the Congress in the state and prepare a roadmap when the party can fight elections at various levels and at various platforms alone. Banerjee has not made any significant comment on this issue but TMC should go slow if it really wants to neutralise the Congress in the state. The UPA is in no great shape and the next national elections are wide open, so Mamata Banerjee might want to take her calls one at a time. And that would be the wise thing to do. The Congress is no match for her in Bengal but nationally the Congress is a major force and she should not take any knee-jerk decision which might place her on political tenterhooks in the future. She is riding smooth and should consolidate her position and her vote bank by concentrating on the job at hand, which is to steer Bengal out of the rot that was set in by her predecessors in the government. Rewards, such as the verdict in the recent civic polls, will automatically follow.
Mamata’s one year in power has not been without controversies but she has shown characteristic verve and command to stay on track and steer the debt-ridden state she had inherited into an era of prosperity and well-being. And the results of the civic polls carry enough indication that the people are with her and share her optimism of better days that the state is going to see after reeling under the weight of bad governance under the Left for far too long.
Also, the TMC victory in the industrial town of Durgapur is being hailed as an indication that the TMC supremo’s anti-industry image, which has stuck to her since the Singur imbroglio is on the wane and she is founding acceptance also as a leader of the urban demography.
Some TMC leaders are insisting that since they went alone in the civic polls, without any arrangement with the Congress and have swept it. It is time that the party should review its partnership with the Congress in the state and prepare a roadmap when the party can fight elections at various levels and at various platforms alone. Banerjee has not made any significant comment on this issue but TMC should go slow if it really wants to neutralise the Congress in the state. The UPA is in no great shape and the next national elections are wide open, so Mamata Banerjee might want to take her calls one at a time. And that would be the wise thing to do. The Congress is no match for her in Bengal but nationally the Congress is a major force and she should not take any knee-jerk decision which might place her on political tenterhooks in the future. She is riding smooth and should consolidate her position and her vote bank by concentrating on the job at hand, which is to steer Bengal out of the rot that was set in by her predecessors in the government. Rewards, such as the verdict in the recent civic polls, will automatically follow.
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