It is heartening for me personally to see the right wing facing a stiffer resistance than was expected in the recently concluded elections. Rewind to a month or two ago. Despite the hype around the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and Bengal’s politically charged environment, I did not observe a great deal of enthusiasm among voters. Yes, they performed their “duty as citizens”, but the excitement regarding the election seemed noticeably subdued in my conversations with people.
One possible explanation could be that individuals I am familiar with or I am close to aren’t particularly fond of either the two main parties in the fray this time. So it’s often a question of voting for the ‘least bad’, if you know what I mean. The other thing is that people I met outside Kolkata – from the suburbs or from the villages – considered the elections a compulsion. They felt that if they didn’t vote, there could be “consequences”. This perception might explain the high voter turnout in constituencies with significant rural populations in West Bengal.
From the perspective of political parties, this election was again a bipolar contest as it has traditionally been in West Bengal. It has always been a battle between “this” and “that”. The third parties, except among their die-hard supporters, don’t really seem to matter much here. But among the main parties, there wasn’t anything exciting about their campaigns.
I found the issues put forward by most parties in their campaigns quite lacklustre. Rather than highlighting their own accomplishments and outlining a vision for the future, the rhetoric was more of the same old, same old finger pointing at other parties. The recurring theme across campaigns and across parties was the vague notion of "corruption". The melody that was played by each party was “they are more corrupt than us”.
Unemployment, we all know, is a major problem. The issue was used in electioneering by every party but very perfunctorily. It was reduced to just a slogan. I did not find any party presenting any meaningful analysis of the issue or solution to resolve it. My feeling, by and large, and I hope I’m wrong, is that there is very little economic acumen in the ranks. No Manmohan Singh, no Raghuram Rajan.
In West Bengal, as elsewhere, communalism, authoritarianism, even fascism, emerged as major electoral issues, with various parties exploiting it in different ways depending on their ideological inclinations. Different interpretations of the communal divide were employed by the parties. All in all, I the campaigning for the 18th Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal was quite shallow.
However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s indomitable spirit was hard to miss. Although I do not support her party, I cannot help but admire her fighting spirit. She has always been a fighter, and many people respect her courage, which doesn’t necessarily translate to supporting her party. Among the rural electorate, she is seen as the person to go to, to appeal to. But the image of Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been besmirched by the allegations of corruption and scams against party leaders and the Sandeshkhali issue.
Party workers traditionally lack strong ideological commitment and tend to align with the party most likely to win power. How else can you explain the fact that despite their 34-year rule, the Left parties failed to build a robust’ ideologically motivated cadre base. Many of the same workers switched to Trinamool after 2011. Now, a similar shift might be occurring from Trinamool to the BJP.
Following the BJP's loss in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, a misconception emerged that the BJP is unacceptable to the Bengali electorate, especially in Kolkata and its surroundings. However, there is a large portion of the electorate that ardently supports the right as represented by the BJP. It’s just that previously, the mainstream political discourse in West Bengal was dominated by the Left, making those with right-leaning views hesitant to express their opinions. As far as voting is concerned, the BJP was weak, and there were no right-wing candidates to vote for. However, now the situation has changed, leading to the significant support the right-wing party receives.
Given that door-to-door campaigns by parties have ceased to exist in urban areas nowadays, I haven’t had the chance to personally engage with any candidate this time. But the CPI(M)’s young leaders in this election looked promising. If the party is indeed handing over the baton to its future faces, then I hope it bodes well for them.
(As told to Niladry Sarkar)
