It is Didi Day in West Bengal and what a win for the Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee has trounced all those who predicted that her margin would come down. And for this reason alone she has every reason to be smug on Thursday and for a long, long time.
Mamata's campaign has been a kind of graph -- sometimes sure, sometimes unsure.
Mamata and TMC began the campaign on a confident note and even when the Congress and Left Front joth happened there was no worry. Both were considered a non starter.
But as time passed Mamata began to feel the heat. The Election Commission came down heavily on her favourite officers. Narada sting stung and gave a major issue to the joth. But the most ferocious attack came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he called the Girish Park flyover collapse an act of fraud.
Many thought that the flyover collapse and Narada sting barbs would unnerve Mamata. It did for a wee bit but those who know her say that her decision to brazen it out shows that she knew she was getting it right.
Mamata went into silence. No interviews to national channels. She has given just three so far. Aveek Sarkar's ABP Group and The Telegraph ran a campaign against her and Mamata hit back. Her anger stemmed from the fact that she knew that the joth was Aveek Sarkar's brainchild.
Today her silence has silenced all. She has bettered her performance of 2011. While TMC won 184 seats in alliance with the Congress, in 2016 she was alone. Hence her victory is bigger? She owes it to no one.
And what it means for the future? Sources close to Mamata say unlike what most think, she will be more restrained and possibly those who have been named in Narada sting may find their going tough.
So what worked for Didi? First, Bengal is not known to change its loyalties soon and gives ample time to its leaders. They did it to the Left for 34 years. But Didi's core vote bank -- women and Muslims -- remains intact. Apart from that several of her schemes ensured that she stayed at the top.
The truth is people haven't forgiven the Left as yet and were ready to give Mamata another chance. The huge margin by which TMC won goes on to show her might.
Now she is bound to play an important role at the Centre as well.
Comments
0 comment