Mamata's Best Foot Forward

As expected, an orgiastic bout of violence gripped rural West Bengal over the filing of nominations for the three-tier panchayat polls. The nomination process for around 74,000 seats began on June 9, the last date of filing papers was June 15—six days given over to arson, rampant use of bombs and bloodshed.

- Romita Datta

Even after that date, the violence has continued unabated. At least 11 people have been killed and dozens injured. The BJP, Congress and the Left parties have accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of intimidating their candidates to stop them from filing nomination papers and from campaigning. The TMC has denied all charges, claiming that a record number of nominations were filed. It pointed out how several of its members/ workers were killed and injured. Bengal now awaits ano ther cycle of bloodletting on the day of voting on July 8 (results are out on July 11). However, polling will take place under the watch of central armed paramilitary forces under orders of the Calcutta High Court.

In the meantime, being the main brand ambassador of her party, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been on an overdrive to assure voters that their best interests lie in trusting her. Mamata has asked voters to consider her as the candidate in all seats. To take the wind out of the sails of a resurgent Left and the Congress, she personally apologised for any irregularities TMC office-holders might have committed. About arch-rival BJP, she had this to say: “Bengal is at peace and the BJP cannot bear that.” She has also asked supporters to treat the polls as a war against the Opposition and appealed party members to be united. That’s unsurprising, for infighting within the TMC is rampant and around 7,000 disaffected members are fighting the polls as independents.