Bitter and Bloody Battle

 Whether it is the ‘Battle Royal for Bengal’, “Bloody Battle for Bengal’ or the “Bitter Battle for Bengal’; the forthcoming assembly election in west Bengal, is certainly the most bitterly fought in recent times as BJP has unleashed every ammunition in its huge and awesome armoury to defeat the ruling TMC. The TMC faces a formidable foe in the BJP and Mamata Banerjee is being put to her toughest test of her political career with the BJP outdoing her party in every department of the game. For the BJP, winning Bengal will cement its presence throughout east India and could also be a state where it can reap political dividends. West Bengal was 42 Lok Sabha seats and 16 Rajya Sabha seats and therefore, the state is a prime target for 2024. For the Trinamool the election is an existential battle and so Mamata is determined to fight back like the Bengal Tigress. Even for the BJP, the Bengal election is a prestigious battle and has been planning for the battle royal for over five years. Assembly elections will be held from March 27 to April 29 and spread over eight phases. The Election Commission of India has divided election into eight phases for 294 seats while in Tamil Nadu election for 234 seats will be a single phase, while for Assam with 126 seats, election will be in three phases.Even years ahead of the declaration of assembly elections, Mamata has been hit by desertions of senior party leaders engineered by the BJP. More are deserting the TMC as electioneering has hit top gear. It is an existential election for all parties in the fray in West Bengal. A defeat will be a major political setback, especially for the TMC including the BJP, which has thrown in everything, even using central probe agencies against TMC leaders. Defeat is not an option and whoever loses in Bengal will certainly pay a heavy price. For the BJP, Bengal is ripe for the taking as the ruling TMC faces an anti-incumbency factor. Though BJP has no popular leader who can match Mamata, it has pitched Modi. Therefore, the battle in Bengal is turning out to be a repeat of the BJP strategy- pit Modi against a rival incumbent. That is why the 2021 election is like no other election held in the state till now. Both TMC and BJP realizes the importance of 2021 and how high the stakes are. Mamata Banerjee had said in earlier campaigns, that it is ‘now or never’ and that she will fight like the Bengal tiger. The 2021 Bengal election is also important because the idea of a liberal, secular, plural and federal India pitted against the idea of a strong, unitary and even authoritarian Rashtra. Opposition parties from various states are backing the Trinamool and their leaders will also campaign in Bengal. The Left and the Congress have forged an alliance making the Bengal election a three-cornered contest. The division of votes is going to benefit the BJP but there are also indications that traditional Congress and Left supporters will largely vote for TMC. Many speculate that the poll outcome will be a hung house while others believe the TMC could just scrape through. In such a scenario, the BJP could unleash its ‘Operation Lotus’ to wean away rival party MLAs or create a split so as to come to power as it did in other states.