{"id":141783,"date":"2021-02-11T17:18:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/?p=141783"},"modified":"2021-03-30T16:26:16","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T10:56:16","slug":"west-bengal-polls-mamata-banerjee-bjp-tmc-abhishek-banerjee-amit-shah-narendra-modi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/top-news-of-the-day\/news\/west-bengal-polls-mamata-banerjee-bjp-tmc-abhishek-banerjee-amit-shah-narendra-modi\/","title":{"rendered":"In poll-bound Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s bhai-bhatija headache"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Sujit Bhar <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Politics in Bengal had always been doughty and blustery. Recently, with the BJP\u2019s onslaught on Mamata Banerjee\u2019s rule, it has become an inferno. On Thursday, police in Kolkata lathi charged (and used water cannons on) a rally of leftist student union members, who had organised a march to Nabanna, the state secretariat in Howrah, the twin town across the Hooghly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CPI(M) may have lost its base in the state completely, but it is yet to lose its notoriety. Also, since it has made a poll alliance \u2013 for whatever it is worth \u2013 with the state Congress, this police action may end up being egg in the face for Trinamool Congress. On the rebound, it could also end up being a handle for the BJP to beat TMC with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, on Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared in the state that it will be a fight between Modi’s ‘vikas’ and Mamata’s ‘vinash’ models. Despite Mamata\u2019s apparent huge popularity in the state, it is no secret that industry and employment have not arrived in the state during Mamata\u2019s rule. The departure of Medinipur strongman Subhendu Adhikary has been on the shoulders of such depressive moods. Mamata has declared that she will also fight from Subhendu\u2019s seat, but how much can one lady spread her personal influence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state, alongside BJP President JP Nadda, had put tremendous pressure on the TMC and the state supremo. Recently the inauguration of a permanent Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose museum at the Victoria Memorial by the Prime Minister was a cultural affront. Despite claims by MP Sugata Bose \u2013 he is the director of the Netaji Research Bureau in Kolkata and Netaji was his great uncle \u2013 that certain documents in the new museum were fake, the overall pomp accompanying the inauguration of the museum will be remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However that\u2019s not all the story. There has been a mild \u2013 though shocking \u2013 \u2018mutiny\u2019 within Mamata\u2019s close associates too, and that has not escaped the attention of the BJP. Mamata\u2019s brother Kartick Banerjee has come out openly against the unusual influence that Mamata\u2019s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee has wielded in state politics, displacing long time grassroots workers like Kartick. Kartick has done tremendous work within communities and has the gratitude of a large section of society that lives cheek-by-jowl with Mamata\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n