West Bengal Chief Minister had promised poriborton to the people of her State. In some areas of policy the difference is visible, but it’s not good enough
The iron law of diminishing returns or depreciation is real; real for firms, cars and durables like political leaders. The wear and tear of being at the helm or running a Government begins to show up sooner than later. The limitations that promises throw up can be circumvented, negotiated or ignored, provided the leader or the leadership knows the way forward.
Armed with a slogan that was so compelling that most forgot to question what it meant, except the sour Opposition faced with the inevitability of downfall, the “Ma-Mati-Manush” cry of the Trinamool Congress had a universal appeal and inbuilt limitations. The limitations have begun to assume the appearance of a spectre; the politics of land for industry, development and infrastructure is only one of them, albeit a critical one. The slogan promised poriborton; it spelt out what it would change, namely poor governance and the end of political meddling and patronage. It promised that the poorest would be lifted out of poverty and that West Bengal would flourish; it would be wrapped in gold, and Kolkata would be transformed into london.
All that was 22 months ago, when the Trinamool Congress swept into power defeating the CPI(M)-led left Front. It was hailed as a great triumph. With another, and very important election due with a best by date of ironically May, the inexorable law of diminishing returns and depreciation has kicked in. The Trinamool Congress has to face it, overcome it and deliver yet another spectacular victory in the panchayat election. For, on the heels of the panchayat election will follow the general election of 2014.
In 2009, when the Trinamool Congress started out on overturning the dug-in CPI(M) in West Bengal, it had no records that it needed to either match or surpass. In 2013, there are records of its successes by leaps and bounds from 2009 onwards, and it is up to Mamata Banerjee, as Trinamool Congress's supremo and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, to deliver triumphs that when plotted on a graph show nothing but a steep upward trend. Any dips and troughs would imply that the poriborton and the Ma-Mati-Manush alliance has not worked.
Consequently the report by Saugata Roy, MP, and after his exit from the Union Cabinet as adviser to the West Bengal Government's commerce and industry department, that the State should limit itself to the “small is beautiful” slogan,has provoked a controversy. It is being viewed as defiance on the one hand and on the other a transparent declaration on the land politics of West Bengal triggered by the Ma-Mati-Manush war cry and the State Government's ban on intervention to acquire land for any purpose, not only private industrial enterprises.
Having promised poriborton on industrialising West Bengal without using the State's authority to acquire land, change has become a critical criterion for showcasing the success of the Trinamool Congress's vision and strategy. Mr Roy's reality check, that in the present circumstances, meaning policy limitations, only small and medium businesses can work, has stirred up a storm. His report implies that the claims of poriborton without pain are false if West Bengal aspires to attract big investors. Mr Roy has trapped the populism of Ma-Mati-Manush between rocks and a hard place.
As reckoning time approaches with the panchayat election, the populist programmes of the Trinamool Congress will have to meet delivery deadlines. The numerically vast constituency of rural voters will be the first to deliver a judgment on the performance of the West Bengal Government and Ms Banerjee as Chief Minister. The solution to the problem of delivery have been easy up to now; mismanagement of the CPI(M) for 34 years has taken the rap for everything. It is not the whole truth or rather the facts tell a different story.
The targeting of segments of voters, hitherto less evident in West Bengal's class ideology dominated politics, has created a new dynamics. Minorities and now OBCs have emerged as the beneficiaries of Government programmes. The inclusive idea of Ma-Mati-Manush has undergone a change; it has created pockets of people who benefit from either direct cash transfers or some other form of benefit. The programme has produced some strange beneficiaries, such as the ‘land losers’ of Singur, who have been sanctioned a special hand-out.