New Delhi: The formal swearing-in of Mamata Banerjee for the second time as West Bengal Chief Minister on Kolkata's Red Road today was notable for many reasons.
If the presence of three Chief Ministers – Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and Nitish Kumar – added to the grandeur of the occasion, the presence of mega stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan added a touch of Bollywood glamour to the event.
What was most remarkable was the presence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as well as another union minister Babul Supriyo, who hails from West Bengal. They attended the swearing-in of ‘Mamata Di’ despite the fact that the state unit of the BJP joined their arch-enemies Left and Congress to boycott the event alleging persecution by Trinamool hoodlums.
What makes Mamata Banerjee so special for both the BJP as well as the motley group of socialists like Akhilesh, Lalu and Nitish?
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Actually, the spectacular comeback of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal has the potential of changing political equations at the national level. The number of Trinamool MPs both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha cannot be ignored - neither by the Modi camp nor by the divided opposition.
And the presence of leaders from extreme sides of the political divide gave enough hints of various permutations and combinations being tried on the horizon of national politics.
On May 19, when the counting was almost over, a weary but smiling Mamata Banerjee had herself made it amply clear that West Bengal was her topmost priority and that she was ‘too small a person’ to dream of the PM post. In the same breath, the lady announced that her party would be supporting the Modi government on the GST (Goods & Services Tax) bill, "even we differ ideologically".
Questioned on the possibility of a Federal Front of regional parties at the Centre, Banerjee clearly said that she was ready to join the Front, only on a single condition: that her bete noire, the Left Front, be kept out.
Clearly, what can’t be ignored is the fact that she has not ruled out any thing unequivocally.
It’s true that she has problems galore staring at her in West Bengal and she can’t take the risk of taking her eyes off from her home state. At the same time, she is also a seasoned politician and will not miss the chance of taking a shot at any possibility of running the country either as the leader or as a key ally.
Given the composition of West Bengal's population, where Muslims constitute around 27% of the electorate, it definitely goes against logic for her to join hands with BJP ever. But she can very much become a partner of BJP in its efforts to pass key economic bills. The reason: a state like West Bengal, under heavy fiscal burden, is dependent on largesse from the Centre.
The central leadership of the BJP is well aware of this reality. If the Congress has been reduced to ruling mere 5 states today then Mamata Banerjee has also played an important role in that. And if she continues to hold sway over a large section of West Bengal's electorate then her continuance in power will only boost the ‘Congress-mukt-Bharat’ campaign of the BJP.
In West Bengal, the BJP has no real chances of emerging as an alternative to Mamata Banerjee in the immediate future and therefore, the party finds it prudent not to burn all the bridges with her. And that explains the presence of Jaitley and Supriyo at her swearing-in ceremony, despite the boycott by the state BJP.
Since the Left and Congress have already joined hands both in West Bengal as well as at the national level, the field is now wide open for the BJP to cultivate relationships with Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Mamata Banerjee has already expressed her support for the passage of the GST in Rajya Sabha and it is not less than music to the ears of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The presence of Lalu Prasad and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at today’s event further added to the speculations of a new third front taking shape at the national level.
Going by the nature of their political philosophies, leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are the natural partners of Mamata Banerjee and that’s why they are sounding positive over the prospects of a new front emerging out in near future which can provide an alternative to both BJP and Congress led alliances.
“Once this extreme hot weather is over, we’ll sit and decide what kind of formation is possible during the monsoon,” Lalu said today. The agenda: throw out BJP from the Centre.
Since the Left front has more or less made up its mind to join hands with Congress at the national level and they already fought West Bengal assembly elections together , Mamata will be more than happy to join a new front that will have neither the Congress nor the Left. It will save her the embarrassment of openly joining hands with the BJP.
It’s not that TMC is not thinking on these lines. When asked to comment on the possibility of the emergence of a new third front, Mamata’s close confidante and TMC spokesperson Derek O'Brien said, "No third front, second front. If at all this is a first front."
After her spectacular victory in the Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee had herself hinted at the possibility of a new realignment taking place at the national level when she counted Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Chandrababu Naidu as ‘friends who she could work with’.
It was seen as her willingness to work with those who are not allied either with Left. In fact, Chandrababu Naidu is an ally of the BJP. Clearly, she has no deep reservations against anyone except the Left.
That’s why both BJP as well as the constituents of the erstwhile Third Front look at Mamata as partners for their respective agenda: BJP wants a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ and the non-BJP non-Congress opposition simply wants a front, however unstable or amorphous it may be.
