Mamata Banerjee faces biggest fight of career

Kolkata: Unlike last year, the second anniversary celebration of Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal looks a lot more muted. The euphoria of being in power has subsided as troubles poured in.

Banerjee prepares to face her biggest political challenge in the June-July by-poll of the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) constituency of Howrah along with the Panchayat (village council) polls, as she steps into the third year as chief minister.

The biggest debacle so far is the multi-billion rupees chit fund scam, which has cheated thousands of people of their lifetime savings across the state, especially in rural areas. Already there is widespread unease amongst the urban voters who have not found any real change in Banerjee’s administration. Many see her as unpredictable.

Banerjee came under criticism of her handling of the Park Street rape case incident, which she initially denied ever happened, and then transferred the police officer who went on to solve the case.

She termed a presidency college student, and another farmer, who happened to be her supporter as ‘Maoists’ when they asked uncomfortable questions. She had alienated businessmen by randomly arresting some of the biggest names in the state after the AMRI fire incident. Also the allegation of involvement of Trinamool Congress leaders, known for their proximity with Banerjee in the chit fund scam has affected her image.

Urban voters also find the lack of opportunities as another major reason for their disillusionment with the present government. In the last 24 months that she has been in power, Banerjee has not been able to get even one major company to invest in the state. Two industry campaigns - Bengal Leads, have failed to attract investors, primarily due to lack of clarity on issues such as land. A third, scheduled to be held in Mumbai, never took place because of a lack of response.

Banerjee believes two years is not ample time to assess the performance of her government. She was sworn to power on May 20, 2011.

Speaking to Gulf News, Banerjee said: “Two years is not enough time to evaluate a new government. It is fighting the legacy of a lack of work culture during the 34-year rule of the previous regime, along with a huge debt burden of more than Rs2 trillion that completely crippled and demoralised government machinery. In spite of such financial hardships, Bengal recorded 7.6 per cent growth in GDP, agriculture by 2.56 per cent, industry by 6.24 per cent and 9.48 per cent growth in the service sectors, while the country registered 4.96 per cent, 1.79 per cent, 3.12 per cent and 6.59 per cent respectively,” Banerjee claimed.

“Our revenue collection of Rs320 million during 2012-13 exceeded that of the previous financial year by nearly 30 per cent, which is a record, but could not be used for development work as the central government has deducted Rs260 million from this by way of repayment of debts incurred by the previous government.

Whatever may be the figures, Banerjee has to keep the faith of the rural voters – her main stay to remain in power, who are devastated by the chit fund scam and the failure of the government to return the Singur land as a pre-election promise.

Banerjee, who rested power from the Left rule, has to prove that her popularity is too large to capsize in the anti-incumbency generated by her two-year old government. “People understand that we are a party who doesn’t function with chit fund money. Investigations are going on. Anybody found guilty will be punished,” said Banerjee, who is confident of winning the elections.