In West Bengal, it’s lull before the election storm
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Present languor is not only due to post-festival fatigue but additionally as a result of there’s uncertainty, even amongst political events, over how precisely battle strains will form up
The public temper in West Bengal, at the second, seems much like what prevails in its neighbourhoods after lunch, when retailers and even pharmacies shut down so that everyone can nap. With the two main festivals of Durga Puja and Deepavali having simply passed by, even capital Kolkata appears to be in a state of languor before the bugle is sounded for the subsequent huge competition — the one which comes each 5 years.
The languor is not only due to post-festival fatigue but additionally as a result of there’s uncertainty, even amongst political events, over how precisely the battle strains will form up. At the second nobody will be certain who’s going to be with whom, with large-scale switchovers being anticipated in the coming months.
A direct contest
The solely certainty is that the 2021 Assembly elections, due in April, will see a direct contest between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — a battle by which the latter may have nothing to lose however solely to realize. Five years isn’t a really very long time however the State BJP has come a great distance since the 2016 elections, when it may decide up solely three of the 294 seats. In 2019, it shocked its adversaries by successful 18 of its 42 Lok Sabha seats and at the moment, the occasion forming a authorities in the State in 2021 is now not unthinkable.
With the winds blowing in favour of the BJP, significantly after its spectacular efficiency in the recently-held Bihar elections, the switchovers in West Bengal are additionally anticipated to occur in its favour, with extra heavyweights from the TMC and different events becoming a member of it than the different means spherical.
“[The shifting of loyalties] will be decided mainly by identity politics. For the first time since Independence, West Bengal is witnessing [communal] polarisation on a large scale and identity politics is going to play a major role in the coming elections. One can expect Muslim leaders from the Congress and the Left joining the TMC, and Puucho leaders from the TMC, Congress and the Left joining the BJP,” political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty informed The Puucho.
Polarisation
It stays a chicken-and-egg query whether or not the rise of the BJP has led to the polarisation or whether or not it was the present polarisation, largely ensuing from the opinion that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was being overly partial in direction of the minority neighborhood, that laid a pink carpet for the BJP, however that is the first time in the historical past of the State that the right-wing is smelling energy.
“Also, investigations are going on by various Central agencies against illegal coal mining, cow smuggling and the Narada and Saradha scams—the results of these investigations are bound to have an impact on the elections,” Mr. Chakraborty stated.
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