The Trinamool Congress, caught in a double bind with the recent Bardhaman blast and unspooling of the Saradha chit fund scam (in which its activists have been named), has been on the offensive in Parliament.
In both Houses, the Trinamool has emerged as the most aggressive Opposition party in the last few days. Taking the lead in trying to pin down the NDA government on its promise to bring back black money, Trinamool MPs even unfurled black umbrellas in the well of the Lok Sabha and accused BJP president Amit Shah of having dealings with jailed Sahara group chief Subrata Roy. On Tuesday, the party — along with other Opposition parties — was vocal in attacking Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti for her intemperate remarks.
Ever since the BJP secured 17 per cent of the vote share in West Bengal in the general elections, the Trinamool has been in a state of high alert, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee making intemperate remarks, describing the Bardhaman episode as a “RAW plot” and coming to the defence of party colleagues named in the Saradha chit fund scam.
Against this backdrop, two rallies over the last weekend in Kolkata sent out the signal that Ms. Banerjee’s politics — her desperate attempts to retain as much of the State’s 30 per cent Muslim vote — could become counter-productive.
On Saturday, traffic virtually came to a standstill in Kolkata as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s West Bengal unit call to its supporters resulted in a massive show of strength at the Shahid Minar grounds. If the rally protested against branding of madrasas as “breeding ground of terrorist activities” following the October 2 Bardhaman blast, the Jamiat’s Bengal unit president Siddiqullah Chowdhury said the allegations were creating a divide between Hindus and Muslims. “Madrasas are not centres for promoting terrorist activities. It is an insult to us... The anti-Islamic comments that are circulating are blaming Muslims for terrorist activities in the State.”
A day later, BJP president Mr. Shah took the city by storm, with a senior Congress leader from the State saying the crowds reminded him of the numbers that Ms. Banerjee drew back in 1998.
Responding to Ms. Banerjee’s dismissive remark, “Who is Amit Shah?” after his rally was announced, he declared: “I am Amit Shah. I am a small party worker of the BJP. And I have come to uproot Trinamool from Bengal.”
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP may have won just two seats, but it came second in three and secured over 20 per cent in 13 seats.
The Trinamool needs to abandon its shrill frontal attack for a real strategy.
