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Journalism of Courage
Reeling under corruption allegations against its senior leaders and ministers in various scams through 2022, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been focusing on the high-stakes 2023 rural polls, looking to tighten its hold over Panchayat bodies across West Bengal. Seeking to seize on the TMC’s setbacks, the principal Opposition BJP is also stepping up its preparations for the upcoming Panchayat polls, aiming to make further inroads in the state ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Riding on its record win in the 2021 Assembly polls, which led to party supremo Mamata Banerjee taking over as the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term, the TMC started 2022 on a high note. In February, the party swept the urban local body polls, winning 102 of 108 civic bodies.
However, then came the corruption cloud, in various scams being investigated by central agencies, which engulfed several senior TMC leaders and led to the arrest of heavyweight minister Partha Chatterjee and key Mamata aide Anubrata Mondal. This coupled with growing resentment among the TMC workers over Bengal not getting funds from the Centre under the MGNREGA scheme, apparently due to the state government’s running tussle with the Centre, pushed the TMC to the wall.
Grappling with such setbacks, the TMC has been preparing full steam for the Panchayat polls in order to ensure the continuance of its dominance in rural Bengal and consolidate its pole position in the 2024 general elections in the state. To boost its image ahead of the Panchayat polls, slated for early 2023, the party has launched an internal exercise to jettison tainted leaders and functionaries, aiming to regain the trust and support of its formidable support base among the state’s rural population. In some recent cases, the TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, after receiving corruption complaints, issued directives to several “tainted” party leaders and Panchayat pradhans to resign from their posts.
According to a senior TMC leader, wining the rural body elections is crucial for reinforcing the party’s hold on the rural voters while strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level. “On paper the Panchayat polls may not be considered as important as Assembly or Lok Sabha polls. However, in order to succeed in those elections, one must have a strong presence at the grassroots and that happens when you win the Panchayat polls. So, winning the rural polls would mean having a strong foothold in the state ahead of the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
Underlining the importance of the Panchayat polls, the TMC leader pointed out that the party had won a large number of Panchayat bodies in 2008 and brought down the then ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front’s vote share from 90 per cent to 52 per cent, which paved the way for the TMC’s victory in the 2011 Assembly polls that saw the Left citadel’s collapse after 34 years of its uninterrupted rule in Bengal.
On its part, the BJP also seems to be bent on putting up a tough challenge to the TMC in the Panchayat polls, even though the party has lost every election in the state since becoming the main Opposition party in the 2021 Assembly polls. However, the saffron party is yet to form booth committees in a large number of pockets even as it has faced dwindling support among the masses, which would make its bid for the Panchayat polls an uphill task.
The BJP is banking on the graft cloud hanging over the TMC to gain mileage in the rural polls. “The TMC has been exposed. Their leaders have been arrested for their involvement in multiple scams. The Mamata Banerjee government has failed to ensure law and order in the state. They have amassed the central funds. They need to answer to the people now. We are confident that we will get the support of the rural population and our party is ready for the Panchayat elections,” said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.
The CPI(M) and the Congress are also gearing up for the Panchayat polls even though both parties have been relegated to the fringes of state politics now. “We won the Taherpur Municipality in the civic elections in February. In many places our workers have put up a strong fight against the TMC. The ruling party will face a strong resistance from the people in rural areas,” said CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty.
The Bengal Congress president, Adhir Chowdhury, who is currently leading his party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state, alleged that there has been a “tacit understanding” between the TMC and the BJP. “It is a staged fight between these two parties. Both help each other when the occasion calls for it. With our limited strength, we will contest the Panchayat elections. But every one knows these elections will be a farce as the TMC will use threat, intimidation and police to ensure that it wins a majority of the seats uncontested,” Chowdhury charged.
