like left, TMC believes in strong-arm tactics
Tragic and appalling as it may be, the poll-related violence in West Bengal was largely expected. Bloody clashes between workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), especially in the rural areas, have become the norm in recent years; territorial battles have been commonplace irrespective of whether there was an election on the schedule. This was, of course, the consequent churning of a three-decade old political establishment being dismantled in 2011, when Mamata Banerjee stormed the left citadel in the State with an overwhelming mandate for the Trinamool Congress. One had hoped that West Bengal would return to normalcy once the new regime settled in, but that was not to be. Paranoid that she hadn't quite uprooted the left from the State, Banerjee and her TMC have spent the past five years securing their bases and in almost every case, violently. The plan was to completely obliterate the left from the State which, many will argue, was happening anyway as the Red parties were on a self-destruct mode; and their demise would have been hastened if only the TMC had lived up to the people's expectations and proven itself to be capable of offering the good governance and development that Bengal voters so desperately wanted. But the TMC threw away that opportunity. West Bengal has gone from bad to worse, law and order has deteriorated significantly, and the State is fast becoming a safe haven for jihadis. Now, the party, which has also been tarnished by corruption scandals in recent years, has lost much of the support and goodwill that it had in the run-up to the 2011 Assembly election no matter what the Chief Minister may say to the contrary in public.
The political situation has been further complicated by the alliance of the left and the Congress for this Assembly election. On their own, neither is a serious threat to the TMC, but together they can put up a fight, especially if they work their traditional strongholds, many of which are now in a flux. For example, the CPI(M) polling agent killed on Thursday after being hit by a splinter from a crude bomb was from Domkal which has had a CPI(M) MlA for almost four decades as well as a long history of political violence with the Congress. In fact, the Congress and left have not even tied up for the Domkal constituency. Yet, it is believed that the attack in Domkal was the TMC's handiwork. Similarly, Ketugram in Burdwan district, which also saw violence with a CPI(M) worker's ear being slashed and another breaking a leg at one booth, and two others at a different booth being injured after bombs were hurled at them, is also a hotly contested seat. A Congress stronghold till the 1970s, it later become a left constituency, but then voted for the TMC in 2011. The BJP is also another volatile variable in this election. The party did well in the State in the 2014 lok Sabha election and will seek to at least make its presence felt in the new Assembly. Viewed together, there is reason to believe that the TMC may not win its second term as easily as it had hoped to; and hence, much like the left did in its early years, the Trinamool Congress, following that same rule-book, can be expected to take by brute force what it cannot win through the ballot.