Dilip Ghosh, the state BJP president was not at Mamata Banerjee’s swearing-in ceremony. And the list of the absentees included Biman Bose, the Left Front Chairman, Adhir Chowdhury, state Congress president and other opposition leaders. The Left and Congress have no representation in the new Bengal assembly this time. But BJP’s absence at 10.46 hours today at Raj Bhawan, when Mamata Banerjee took oath as chief minister for the third time, indicates a turbulent future, perhaps both inside and outside the assembly.
This is a time of COVID, and it is only expected that after taking oath the Chief Minister will announce her first priority will be dealing with the covid situation. But along with it, she had to appeal to ‘all the parties to keep peace’ in the state. She gave an indication of being tough in dealing with post-poll violence raging in Bengal. “From today I am in charge of law and order,” she said, indicating she would be firm in dealing with the post-poll violence which has taken 15 lives so far. The BJP boycotted the oath-taking ceremony in protest of attacks on their workers.
In fact, the new government may have to recoup its political strategy, as on 2nd May Bengal’s political landscape has undergone a sea change. The BJP failed far short of living up to the level of hype its leaders created, but it has usurped the entire space of the opposition in Bengal. The party that secured just ten per cent vote and had 3 MLAs in 2016, now have secured 38 per cent vote and 77 seats, while the Left or the Congress failed to win even a single seat.
It is to be seen now how the BJP plays out its role as the opposition party in the state. But if today’s decision to boycott the oath ceremony is any indication, it may copy the TMC’s confrontationist strategy during the last years of the Left Front government
Today Mamata Banerjee alone took the oath. Her ministry will be sworn in later. In these days of Covid and consequent fall in growth, the CM will not have the service of Amit Mitra, the man who steered the finance department ably for the last ten years. He is indisposed and has not fought the election this time. Perhaps finding his replacement will be a major challenge for the chief minister, particularly at a time when it is expected that the economy will turn around once the second wave of covid recedes.
The man who enjoyed his moment of glory today at Raj Bhawan was Prashant Kishor. He was brought to counsel TMC after the BJP won 18 seats out of 42 in the state in the last Lok Sabha election. He had an uphill task, but by introducing various mass-contact programmes, starting from didike balo to duare sarkar, he had been able to channelize people’s support to the TMC, increasing its vote share from 43 per cent in 2019 to 48 per cent this time.
(The author Diptendra Raychaudhuri is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. He has a wide range of experience in covering West Bengal politics and has authored several books)