The outreach initiative of Trinamool Congress’ ‘Trinamooler Naba Jowar’ (Trinamool’s New wave) led by party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday has crossed over 2,000 km in the past 19 days. The public meetings which are part of the initiative have witnessed large gathering across various locations in north and south of Bengal.
At various places, Mr. Banerjee, the party’s second-in-command, has also been seen interacting with or waving at thousands of enthusiastic party workers from his vehicle. What is unique about Trinamooler Nabo Jowar is that for the first time in the 25-year history of Trinamool, an initiative is not centered on the party chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
On Friday, Ms. Mamata Banerjee congratulated the initiative and said that the 2000-km milestone has been “achieved with people’s blessings and strong support” and added “our determination to empower grassroots democracy strengthens manifold”. The Chief Minister who had on May 4 participated in one such event in Malda hailed the initiative and said that she was preparing the next generation of the party.
Challenges for the outreach
Despite the Trinamooler Nabo Jowardrawing large crowds, the outreach event has seen challenges from the start. In almost every district there have been scenes of unrest and chaos among the party supporters. Supporters of the ruling party have torn ballot papers used for holding primaries at the panchayat level and engaged in scuffles after Mr. Banerjee’s departure from the venue. Senior party leaders were rushed to certain districts and police had to be deployed to control the situation. The political parties in the Opposition have taken a dig at the pandemonium and said it reflects that there is no order in West Bengal’s ruling party.
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Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari while criticising the initiative has raised allegations of corruption and alleged that the outreach is not only supported by the West Bengal administration but is funded by those running lottery business in the State. “Trinamooler Nabo Jowar, Chalo Tihar [let us go to Tihar],” Mr. Adhikari has said pointing out that leaders like Anubrata Mondal of the State’s ruling party are behind bars at Tihar jail in Delhi.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been more direct in criticism and said Mr. Banerjee’s initiative “is an indication that Ms. Mamata Banerjee is no longer in control of her party”.
Political observers, however, feel that the initiative has support of party chairperson Ms. Mamata Banerjee who wants to create a niche for her nephew. Despite differences cropping up between the old guard and the new leadership led by Mr. Banerjee, the party chairperson had in February 2022 re-appointed her nephew as general secretary and since then his control over the party has increased.
Risk by leading the initiative
Political observer Biswanath Chakraborty feels that Abhishek Banerjee is taking a risk by spearheading the campaign and the initiative has full support of the party chief. “After the outreach if Mr. Banerjee is able to secure victory for his party in the panchayat election, he will take full credit for it but if there are any electoral setbacks, the blame will be on him. The entire initiative is to build the brand and image of Mr. Banerjee,” Mr. Chakraborty, who teaches political science at Rabindra Bharati University, said.
Referring to Mr. Banerjee’s remark that he will be out on the streets for 60 days and will not return to his home in Kolkata before the event draws to a close, he said that such comments are meant to project him as a leader connected to the roots.
“The rise of Mr. Banerjee to political prominence happened only after Ms. Mamata Banerjee came to power. He has never been involved in Opposition politics,” Prof. Chakraborty said on why the party’s second-in-command needs an image makeover.
