Regardless of Sandeshkhali And RG Kar Hospital Hiccups, TMC & Mamata Finish 2024 On A Excessive; What Awaits In 2025? – News18
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Observers say Mamata Banerjee will gear up for the 2026 West Bengal meeting polls from the very first day of 2025
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (File pic/PTI)
The 12 months didn’t begin nicely for the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Within the first week of January, when an Enforcement Directorate (ED) workforce visited the home of TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, it was attacked. Some days later, native villagers began protesting there, complaining concerning the highhandedness of Shahjahan, who was seen by many because the “uncrowned king” of Sandeshkhali. In addition they got here up with testimonies of his torture. The allegation was that he, alongside together with his shut aides, transferred farming land to fisheries by power. Some ladies additionally complained that his shut associates’ behaviour with them was objectionable.
This was an enormous embarrassment for Bengal’s ruling TMC. The get together was going through critical questions as Shahjahan and his shut associates had been all a part of TMC. The native ladies’s protest grew to become large and shortly changed into a nationwide concern. Within the April-June Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering made a lady from Sandeshkhali, Rekha Patra (who claimed that she was tortured), a candidate for the world’s constituency of Basirhat.
Sandeshkhali made nationwide headlines for all of the mistaken causes. Central groups, the Girls’s Fee, and the SC/ST Fee all arrived. Lastly, the case was handed over to the CBI beneath courtroom route.
Naturally, the massive query was, wouldn’t it affect the Bengal Lok Sabha polls?
Apparently not. The BJP’s tally within the state, in truth, went down, and Mamata Banerjee’s haul shot as much as 29 within the Lok Sabha polls. The TMC received the Basirhat constituency by greater than 300,000 votes. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that Sandeshkhali had given a solution to the “vicious marketing campaign” that was happening in opposition to Trinamool.
After the election outcomes, the TMC noticed that it had not performed nicely in city areas. The get together was attempting to organise and go for a significant revamp. Then the brutal rape and homicide of a younger physician at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital in August got here as an enormous jolt. The incident at a authorities medical faculty within the state capital grew to become an enormous embarrassment for the TMC and its authorities. Police dealing with of the case obtained flak and resulted in nationwide protests. The Supreme Court docket took suo moto cognisance of the case and handed it over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Tales of well being syndicates and a tradition of risk started to emerge. The CBI was handed over the corruption case too. Sandip Ghosh, former principal of the medical faculty and hospital, was arrested on corruption fees. Then a case of conspiracy pertaining to the rape and homicide was additionally slapped on him. The station home officer (SHO) of Tala Thana was additionally arrested by the CBI, stating that he was half of a bigger conspiracy.
Bengal noticed protests from Cooch Behar to Kakdwip. On August 14, the RG Kar Hospital constructing was vandalised, with the federal government once more receiving flak. Medical college students continued to stop work after which went on a starvation strike. The motion additionally gained traction nationwide. Mamata eliminated the commissioner of police from his publish. She went to the docs and tried to win them over. The CM additionally stated that she was able to resign on this state of affairs. After a lot deliberation, the scholars sat along with her in her house. Most of their calls for had been accepted.
Observers stated that for the primary time in her life, Mamata took one step again. The firebrand chief tried to pacify the docs in each approach. She eliminated well being division officers and different necessary functionaries. Specialists said that the medical college students took out a leaf from Mamata’s playbook and pushed her authorities on the again foot. In spite of everything this, the scholars ended their starvation strike.
There was hypothesis that six bypolls had been to be held and the RG Kar Hospital case may have an effect. Whereas many of the seats had been in villages, Naihati, an city space, was additionally to have polls. Nevertheless, the TMC received all of the seats with huge margins.
Mamata as INDIA bloc boss?
The Congress noticed electoral losses in Haryana and Maharashtra, whereas even after two huge hiccups, Mamata’s reputation remained the identical, and he or she received the ballot battles. This led TMC leaders to query the Congress’s management within the opposition INDIA bloc they usually began proposing Mamata’s title because the convener. Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee stated Mamata ought to be the chief of INDIA and others adopted.
Amid all this, Mamata Banerjee in an interview with News18 said that the INDIA bloc was her thought and he or she might take care of it from Bengal. There have been ripples within the opposition camp. Veterans like Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad Yadav stated “Didi” could lead on the alliance. So Mamata seems set to finish 2024 on a excessive. And, observers say, she’s going to gear up for the 2026 West Bengal meeting polls from the very first day of 2025.
Mamata magic or opposition’s failure?
Kunal Ghosh, basic secretary of TMC, advised News18, “We’ve a reference to the general public all the time, and that’s what issues on the finish of the day. So Mamata Banerjee is for the individuals, by the individuals, and of the individuals. There have been deliberate makes an attempt to defame TMC and the federal government in each approach, however reality prevails.”
Whereas the TMC has the individuals’s mandate, many consider that the opposition ought to have been extra energetic. Dilip Ghosh, former BJP state president, advised News18, “Opposition exercise couldn’t attain the frequent individuals; that’s true; they don’t seem to be counting on us. Opposition political events are failing to do their duties; that’s the rationale why apolitical actions gained extra momentum; that is regarding for us. Even our previous get together employees at the moment are not able to take dangers. Mamata has tactfully dealt with issues; that’s why individuals had no different different however to vote for her. We’ve to actually work on this. This ‘the whole lot is sweet’ will not be happening in Bengal.”
BJP chief Agnimitra Paul has a special take. Talking to News18, she stated, “We can not say Sandeshkhali, RG Kar didn’t have any impact. In Sandeshkhali, we received the meeting seat, although we misplaced the Lok Sabha seat, so lastly, it was a defeat. However we now have taken a lead in the primary place. Furthermore, in by-elections, individuals all the time vote for the ruler. See, right here individuals are dwelling in concern; polls don’t happen. We’re going for a membership drive; there too, we’re seeing individuals are afraid. We hope that individuals will perceive, come out of concern, and vote out Mamata in 2026.”
The Left and Congress additionally didn’t put up any battle in entrance of the TMC. That too is a priority for the opposition.
Political analyst Sambit Pal, affiliate professor at MIT ADT College in Pune, stated, “Mamata Banerjee has no electoral opposition on par along with her in Bengal as of now. There have been a number of allegations of corruption, atrocities, misgovernance, and malpractices by her authorities and the get together. Nothing has value her electorally. Sure, the individuals’s spontaneous protest through the RG Kar Hospital rape and homicide incident certainly pushed her to the brink. She needed to step again. However the by-election outcomes confirmed she is unparalleled in electoral politics. Moderately, she has to set her home so as with an obvious parallel supply of energy in TMC originating from Abhishek Banerjee. It’s complicated for her get together employees and leaders. Having stated that, she has realised that earlier than the 2026 meeting elections, she wants one other picture makeover as a pacesetter, and he or she might be engaged on that in 2025. Bidding for the management of INDIA is simply an act in direction of it.”
2025, due to this fact, goes to be a really vital 12 months for Mamata because the 2026 Bengal meeting polls might be nearer. She is attempting to arrange already. When TMC goes for votes in 2026, it will likely be going through 15 years of anti-incumbency, which isn’t any imply problem. Specialists additionally say that it’s not that the whole lot is ok with the Bengal authorities and TMC. Moderately, there’s a fixed tussle between seniors and juniors. However one factor is evident: it’s Didi who nonetheless triumphs on “Dadagiri” in Bengal.
