Opinion In defence of Mamata

Banerjee’s baiters forget that for 34 years a succession of Left governments has mismanaged the economy by doggedly clinging to an outdated ideology. The slide in West Bengal was brought out by some startling statistics in the Trinamool’s election manifesto. The manufacturing sector accounted for 19 per cent of the state’s economy in 1975-76; it is now down to 7.4 per cent. The outstanding liability of the state in 2009-10 was a mind-boggling Rs 1,68,684 crore. West Bengal ranks a lowly 32nd among states and Union territories in terms of education.

The dismal economic performance of the state,which was once at the vanguard,is a poor reflection on the state’s last two chief ministers,the suave,statesmanlike Jyoti Basu and the well-intentioned Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Both were hamstrung by dogmatic party colleagues. But rather than reflect on past errors,the scaremongers prefer to harp on the disaster which they insist looms ahead should Banerjee takes over the reins.

While focusing on her negative traits,the doomsday predictors ignore her political acumen and extraordinary courage and determination in taking on,almost single-handedly,the well-entrenched political machinery of the state for more than two decades. So committed was Banerjee to her cause that she even quit the Congress,realising that the party was more concerned with securing Left support for a Congress-led government at the Centre than opposing the CPM in the state. They are also unimpressed by the fact that Banerjee has attracted a large pool of talent not just from the world of cinema,art and literature,but from across the board,including the corporate world. For instance,FICCI secretary-general Amit Mitra and software entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia have joined Banerjee’s bandwagon. Though the mercurial Banerjee appears to have mellowed somewhat of late,this is glossed over by her critics.

A woman who manages to break into our male-dominated political world on her own is an easy target to be dismissed as an unguided missile. Last Sunday,author Khushwant Singh in his weekly column reinforced the sneering stereotype about women in politics by clubbing J. Jayalalithaa,Uma Bharti,Banerjee,Mayawati,Mehbooba Mufti,Sadhvi Ritambhara and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the same bracket. His pop-psychology analysis was that these women have one thing in common: they are all single. He claimed,“You don’t have to be a psychologist to infer that they are missing out on something vital in life that accounts for their eccentric behaviour.”

Most women who have succeeded on their own steam,whether it is Indira Gandhi,Mayawati,Jayalalithaa or Banerjee,are portrayed as autocratic,self-willed and unreasonable. Had they tried to please all,it is unlikely that they would have got past their back-stabbing male colleagues. It is a mistake to infer that because women leaders talk tough,are intolerant of mistakes by underlings and are sometimes whimsical,they necessarily make for poor administrators.

Tales of Mayawati’s high-handedness and megalomania are legion. But,because she is such a hard taskmaster,UP officials have been forced to perform. In UP,the general consensus is that Mayawati as chief minister has certainly outshone Mulayam Singh Yadav and most of her recent predecessors. Jayalalithaa as Tamil Nadu CM sometimes acted arbitrarily and was accused of corruption,but at the same time she presided over one of the best-administered states in the country. She improved law and order,clamped down on terrorist outfits and was surprisingly popular with IAS officers. Indira Gandhi’s transformation from a “gungi gudiya” to the iron lady of India is well-chronicled. There is no reason why Banerjee,too,might not follow in the footsteps of other illustrious women leaders who too were once dismissed out of hand at the starting line.