Rahul Gandhi’s sudden withdrawal from campaigning in West Bengal just after addressing two rallies on a single day has given birth to new speculations of the Congress supporting Mamata Banerjee after the polls.
Ostensibly, Rahul Gandhi made this decision in light of Covid-19 situation in the state. But he was supposed to address rallies in Muslim dominated districts of Malda and Murshidabad where Covid-19 has not spread like in Kolkata and its adjacent districts. No other party has given up campaigning in these areas. Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee or BJP stalwarts will address rallies in these areas in the coming days. So, why did Rahul Gandhi give up?
The Muslim vote is an important deciding factor in this election. There are about a hundred constituencies where the Muslim vote is above 25 per cent. In view of a trend reported by the media in general of a strong current of Hindu polarisation towards the BJP, Mamata Banerjee’s chances of returning to power depend largely on the polarisation of Muslim votes towards the TMC.
In the earlier rounds of polls, Abbas Siddique’s ISF has damaged the prospect of Muslim polarisation in 10-15 constituencies of South Bengal. This ISF was brought in the fold of the third front by the CPI(M), while Congress was reluctant. Again, on behalf of CPI(M) it has been categorically said that the Left would not support the TMC after the polls. No such things have been stated by the Congress that was an alliance partner of the TMC in 2011, when the Left Front government was brought down.
The BJP leaders feel Rahul Gandhi left the field suddenly to make way for polarisation of Muslim vote towards the TMC. Dilip Ghosh, the state president of the BJP, says, “The Congress and the Left are with the TMC.” A Left leader also concedes on the condition of anonymity that the Congress and the ISF may extend support to the TMC in case the poll results throw up a hung assembly.
Meanwhile, Congress leader P Chidambaram has come up in support of Mamata Banerjee on other issues too. Narendra Modi is addressing the Bengal CM as ‘Didi, o Didi’ in each of his rallies and the crowd is reacting enthusiastically.
The TMC thinks it is derogatory for the Bengal CM. Chidambaram too has echoed the same sentiment and has attacked Modi on this count. This sudden bonhomie with the TMC too has been noted.
Earlier Mamata Banerjee’s call for a combined fight against the BJP met with stunning silence from the Congress leadership. But after the poll is over in 60 per cent constituencies of Bengal, suddenly the party is changing its stand, and that too just before the polls in its stronghold. The BJP leaders are interpreting it as a coming together of the opposition parties with a definite sign of BJP’s winning the assembly election. They feel the Congress and TMC are now trying to make an ‘underhand adjustment’ in the Muslim dominated seats to avoid a split of Muslim votes.