BJP BLARES THE BUGLE FOR BENGAL BATTLE

Modi has set illegal immigration as the BJP’s campaign plank in the fourth-most populous state. Bengalis are cogitating about the issue amid a strong anti-incumbency sentiment

- VINAY SAHASRABUDDHE

AFTER the splendid BJP-NDA victory at the local body polls in Maharashtra, all eyes are now on West Bengal. While addressing a rally in Malda last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi minced no words in appealing to voters to break the nexus of infiltrators with those in office.

He cautioned people about demographic balance being disturbed at some places in the state. In a way, PM Modi has blown the poll bugle and clearly set BJP’s campaign agenda.

Remember the situation in West Bengal when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took charge in 2011? When she entered Writers’ Building, political analysts had ascribed Banerjee’s victory to five key factors—a strong anti-incumbency sentiment after 34 years of Left Front rule; her pro-farmer campaign against the forcible takeover of land at Nandigram and Singur; criminalisation of grassroots politics; near absence of governance in Maoist-dominated areas that had alienated tribal communities; and massive corruption and mismanagement hobbling the state’s economy.

Ironically, after 15 years, Banerjee’s government is facing an equally severe anti-incumbency sentiment for almost the same reasons. Criminalisation of politics has increased manifold, thanks to the Trinamool Congress sheltering the lumpen elements who had deserted the Left Front. Besides, corruption and misgovernance have made deeper inroads into statecraft under her rule.