However, it made little difference to the TMC as it achieved a near total sweep in the three tier elections, giving it indisputable domination over rural administration in the strife-torn state. Over 150 people were killed in poll-related violence, a fact admitted by none other than TMC leader Mr Madan Mitra

This time, Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee has told party workers at various gatherings to stay prepared for the coming panchayat polls which could be held after the monsoon ends — usually this occurs sometime in October. Simultaneously, she has ordered district officials attending various administrative meetings to step up the pace of development work in all sectors, issuing advance warnings for laggards if any.

No major party leader has as yet spelt out any special message for the Panchayat elections, but that does imply that preparations are not on. The only party that has publicly reacted to the TMC’s pre-poll moves is the CPI(M) , which heads the Left Front in the state. State party Secretary Mohammad Salim sets a hot pace when it comes to political campaigning.

In recent weeks, student, youth and trade Union bodies affiliated to the CPI(M) have launched a series of agitations in Kolkata as well as the districts. They have organised protests and rallies, defying restrictions imposed by the police, on issues ranging from massive corruption in the state administration over providing jobs for school/college teachers, economic stagnation, unemployment, continuing industrial closures and recurring criminal/communal violence.

In a more subdued manner, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) too has been active of late. Its efforts to get into an agitational mode has been on view especially after the strong message that union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah delivered to the party cadre during his last visit to the state. While his visit has revived activism within the state BJP up to a point, it has neither settled the continuing inner party squabbles, nor halted the steady exodus of low level activists/supporters to the ruling TMC, usually for personal gain.

At BJP-organised protests on major issues in different districts and towns, the tone and morale of party supporters/activists remain well below the energy levels witnessed in the left sponsored programmes. Also the participation of students and youths is significantly less than seen in the Left sponsored agitations. As a rule BJP-sponsored demos are also shorter in duration and involve fewer clashes with the well armed police forces that are invariably deployed to exercise ’control’ even during relatively peaceful meetings involving mostly elders or women!

In contrast, Congress has not been very active except during sporadic programmes usually launched by MP Mr Adhir Choudhury. The continuing absence of clear directions from the Delhi-based party high command, which stays firmly in control even after the recently held ‘chintan’ session at the highest level, still plagues the state party’s functioning.

Then remains the ruling TMC. It is no surprise, given its functioning style since 2011, that its lower level leaders and activists have become very active of late. For the opposition, its stepped-up activism spells trouble, both in terms of pre election campaigns as well as the law and order situation.

Intriguingly, even the steady weakening under duress of all opposition parties since 2011, to the point where they failed to win a single seat i in Assembly elections, there has occurred no noticeable let-up in political violence!

Targeted killings, major bomb explosions, and group clashes now involving different factions of the TMC in ‘opposition free’ Bengal have become the new normal in the state. Senior party insiders admit that at least 500 or more TMC activists have been killed and many more injured, in inner party violence during the last 3/4 years.

The state police has remained in a passive non interfering mode. The Chief Minister has often made verbal appeals delivered in the mildest language, to armed party workers engaging in regular attacks and killings, requesting them to desist from trouble making (‘Dushtumi’, the Bengali word she uses, means ‘naughty’)! Arrests of TMC activists for using arms or breaking laws, most opposition leaders allege, remains a rarity in the state.

Unreported by the Bengal mainstream media, despite public denials by the TMC, efforts have been resumed to make the state’ opposition free’ again as the 2022 Panchayat polls approach. A section of media reports Mohammad Rafiq, familiar TMC leader at Kespur in Midnapore district, as telling party activists to ‘ignore the barkings‘ of opposition parties in the villages. They (TMC) must make sure that local thana officials let TMC activists free reign ‘ for 30 minutes only’ as they go around different polling booths. A mere 30 minutes was all the time the ruling party would need to show the opposition its place in the polls!

As against the organizational muscle power and personal appeal of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to the women and the rural people, the CPI(M) led Left Front has hardly any matching fighting power while the BJP leadership in the state is more busy in taking care of its I factional fighting. The Congress is in anyway defunct body. The present Congress Lok Sabha member from Berhampore Adhir Chowdury may lose his seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. That way, Trinamool still remains virtually unchallenged as the panchayat elections are approaching. (IPA Service)