At a time when scams are bursting on her Government’s face almost in regular intervals the ruling Trinamool Congress has lapped up Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s assertions acknowledging Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s capability to become India’s next Prime Minister.
Even the Chief Minister has accepted Sen’s views as a “command.” When asked to comment on what she thought about the leading economist’s observations, Banerjee said, “he is a great visionary … a vastly experienced and learned person … his views are like a command to me.”
Ever since her party’s thumping win in the 2021 Assembly elections Banerjee has maintained a cautious stand on her Prime Ministerial ambitions saying she was just a political artisan and presently would like to play the catalyst in stitching together a grand alliance against the BJP.
“At present the goal is to remove the BJP from power by defeating it in the elections … when the question of leadership would arise there would be no dearth of leaders,” Banerjee had said though her party mouthpiece Jago Bangla made no bones about her being the next Prime Minister of India.
On Sunday senior leaders of her party including Kunal Ghosh said, “when world visionaries like Amartya Sen make a statement then it definitely bears wait … His statements are and have to be the reflection of people’s desires … scholars like him do not say out of turn or without research.”
Another TMC leader said that the voters would “definitely compare between Mamata Banerjee’s pro-people decisions --- like Kanya Shree, Swasthya Saathi, Laxmir Bhandar, Yuva Shree, Duare Sarkar which has brought Bengal Government the national and international laurels --- and the BJP Government’s anti-people decisions … Amartya Sen must have taken note of this public view before making his remark.”
The Left parties however, differed from TMC’s interpretation saying “they have only partly read Dr Sen’s views.” Senior CPI(M) leader Chayan Mukherjee said “Dr Sen had said that Mamata Banerjee has the capability to become the Prime Minister but expressed doubts whether she will be able to unite the opposition forces … a person who cannot unite one’s followers will be miserable as a Prime Minister.”
Speaking on the performance and chances of the BJP coming to power and Mamata Banerjee’s chances of becoming the Prime Minister Sen had earlier told a news agency that “It's not that she does not have the ability to do it. She clearly has the ability. On the other hand, it's yet not established that Mamata can pull the forces of public dismay against the BJP in an integrated way to make it possible for her to have the leadership to put an end to the fractionalisation in India.”
In the same interview Sen had also said that all the regional outfits including Samajwadis, DMK and for that matter the TMC too would play a big role in the next year’s elections dismissing the idea that the BJP was undefeatable.
He said “it would be a mistake to take the dismissive view that there is no other party that can take the place of BJP since it has established itself as a party with a vision that is inclined in the direction of Hindus over the rest of the country.
“I think a number of regional parties are clearly important. I think the DMK is an important party, the TMC (Trinamool Congress) is certainly important and the Samajwadi Party has some standing but whether that could be extended I do not know.” he further said.