Both the Government and the Opposition had long lists of failures, but while the former still had some positives to show, the latter ran an entirely negative campaign
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has come back to power with a big margin and secured for herself a second term as Chief Minister of West Bengal, in spite of a concerted bitter campaign by jot partners and certain sections of the media. There are two main reasons for this: First, opposition parties, except for the Bharatiya Janata Party, had nothing positive to offer. They ran an entirely a negative campaign. Second, even this negative campaign carried little credibility.
The Opposition kept harping on the TMC Government’s failure to provide employment opportunities, improve economic growth and infrastructure, draw inward investment and raise the standards of the education and healthcare sectors. However, records show substantial improvements in most of these areas. The Zee 24 Ghanta pre-election survey revealed a great degree of satisfaction among the voters towards the ruling party as far as roads, water supply and electricity were concerned. The capital city of Kolkata now wears a new, beautiful look.
The Sabar Shouchagar (toilet for aII) project in West Bengal's Nadia district, framed under the State's Nirmal Bangla initiative and aimed at promoting cleanliness and sanitation in rural Bengal, bagged the United Nations Public Services Award 2015. West Bengal has also topped in executing the Clean Ganga mission. It has set an example by successfully introducing Government fair price shops for selling generic medicines and its Kanyashree Prakalpa initiative to promote education for girls has received commendation from the United Nations. The State has moved ahead of most other States in terms of gross value added, per capita income, agriculture, forestry, fishery and industrial growth.
West Bengal has reduced the profession tax schedule from 100 entries to just four, and introduced automatic web-based registration for dealers. There is a large taxpayer unit where big taxpayers can get single-window clearances for all taxes. Attempts have been made to end the inspector raj — no sales tax official can now visit any registered dealer without a written instruction from their superior. West Bengal has become the first State to make all payments by the State treasury online, under the e-governance platform. Its integrated financial management system is the only State e-package that utilises the Reserve Bank of India's e-Kuber services. Moreover, the State is showing signs of economic revival, and its track record in human development has been noteworthy.
In short, Opposition allegations lacked credibility and did not stick. In the three scams that allegedly involve TMC leaders, nothing much has really been proved. Notably, except for Madan Mitra, the main accused in the Saradha scam, who lost the Assembly election, many other scam-tainted TMC leaders were re-elected. There is also, as yet, no substantive allegation against any Trinamool Congress politician or Government official in the Kolkata flyover collapse accident.
Meanwhile, the Opposition did not have a positive campaign. The jot should have launched a blueprint to address issues where the Trinamool Congress failed. This was all the more necessary as the left’s 34 years' of misrule was not going to be easily forgotten. Even the BJP did not have such a blueprint built into its campaign; neither was the Union Government’s assistance, particularly in the infrastructural areas, articulated properly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speeches were less-than-electrifying.
Finally, none of the opposition parties had any good leaders to offer for the top job. It is, therefore, not surprising that their whole campaign fell flat at the feet of the charismatic and courageous didi.