When Populism Begins to Pinch

WEST BENGAL

- Romita Datta

On February 8, two days before the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee advised Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to add a monthly income incentive for women in his manifesto, on the lines of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in her own state. Akhilesh saw merit in the move, likely aware of how the dole spree in Bengal has earned Mamata and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) a committed following among women.

Women account for nearly half of Bengal’s 100 million people, and of those who turned up to vote in the assembly election last year, 50 per cent chose the TMC—13 percentage points higher than the BJP. Mamata had won their hearts with carefully crafted schemes, such as Lakshmir Bhandar, Swasthya Sathi health insurance cards (issued in the name of the family matriarch) and grants for higher education and marriage of adult girls. The TMC manifesto also promised loans up to Rs 10 lakh for students at 4 per cent interest with a 15-year moratorium.

Lakshmir Bhandar, launched in 2021, offers eligible beneficiaries a monthly assistance of Rs 500 (general category) to Rs 1,000 (Scheduled Castes/ Tribes). The scheme’s popularity has been evident from the serpentine queues of women who, despite the pandemic, gathered at the designated centres to sign up. Some 16 million women have registered for the scheme. The dole will cost the state exchequer Rs 16,000 crore every year. But that hasn’t discouraged Mamata, who is quick to point out that women had to break into their domestic savings to tide over the financial crisis in the aftermath of demonetisation in 2016.