After all, the Sagardighi defeat was a wakeup call. With most of the 26 per cent minority votes cast in TMC's favour in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2021 Assembly, the TMC chief had good reason to act with alacrity.

Soon after the bypoll results came in, a five member committee headed by Manteshwar MLA Siddiqulla Chowdhury submitted a report to the party supremo. Addressing the meeting at her home, Banerjee adopted a carrot and a stick policy.

The party chief assured her party leaders that the minority voters have not deserted the Trinamool. If this was the carrot, the stick followed in the shape of a reprimand that the reverse was the result of its "own weaknesses."

The rebuke apparently laid the blame on collective responsibility but several leaders including Khalilur Rahman and Abu Taher Khan were pulled up for their alleged links with Congress, Trinamool sources stated. Next came the decision to replace the party's minority cell chief Haji Nurul with Itahar MLA Moshsraf Hossain who along with Chowdhury will be in charge of three minority dominated districts of Malda, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur.

City mayor and urban development minister Firad Hakim was relieved of his charge of looking after the districts of Murshidabad, Howrah and Hoogly inhabited by a large section of minority community. The lowering of the profile of Hakim who interacted with Urdu speaking Muslims boils down to identification of a dissociation between Urdu speaking urban Muslims and their Bengali speaking rural co-religionists.

It further zeroed on coalescing of the latter into a support base for Indian Secular Front MLA Naushad Siddiqui. The support of the ISF was a significant factor in the victory of Left supported Congress nominee at Sagadighi, Bayran Biswas.

Chowdhury is a leader among Bengali speaking Muslims and has connect with Jamait-e-Hind which has deep connect within Bengali speaking Muslims of the state, it was learnt from Trinamool sources. The changes have been made lest the Sagardighi defeat have it's fallout on the panchayat poll results in Birbhum, Murshidabad, Malda and East and West Burdwan.

No stones are sought to be left unturned by Banerjee to brush up her image as an anti-BJP leader. Hence her changes in the responsibilities of party leaders and strident criticism of Congress which she wants to portray as no longer a protector of the minority community.

But the efforts of the Trinamool supremo to regain proximity of the minority community has road blocks ahead of it. The timing may be seen by the minority community "opportunistic" coming that it is on the eve of the rural polls and a year ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a senior TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.

Neither the response of the party and the government nor its subsequent actions could be a salve to the minority mindset after the death of Anis Khan in Howrah and the several families being charred to death at Bogtui village in Birbhum. The chief minister did not visit Khan's bereaved family, a marked departure from her usual practice of calling on the grief stricken to console them as the case of Rizwanur Rahman being a case in point.

Many of the next of kin of the Bogtui dead are yet to receive their death certificates. Some officials dragging their feet over this matter has placed the ruling dispensation in an unenviable situation an year after the gory incident which shook the state.

Such is the extent of disenchantment that during the first anniversary of the Bogtui incident recently, family members of the dead were reluctant to share the podium with TMC leaders. In fact some of them walked in a silent procession with leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is a ominous message to the Trinamool.

The ruling dispensation has a wave of resentment against it among minority community in the rural areas. It is making signs of its disapproval clear. The Opposition seems to be closing ranks on these issues. The Left, Congress and to some extent BJP reaped handsome political dividends from them.

Inter party compulsions and lack of direction came in the way of the ruling party leaders to hit the ground running. Small wonder, armed with better political sense and sans complacency the Opposition beat them on the draw.

The lacuna in the treatment of the rural area minority community not only lie in the gap between promises made to them and it's fulfilment. This has been the grouse of many who had been bypassed by the raft of the much vaunted development projects of chief minister, Mamata Banerjee. But the reasons behind the shifting of loyalty of the minority community goes deeper. It has stood by TMC irrespective of the political weather and sections of it are feeling being left in the lurch.

It is when the lives of a minority community are snuffed out in small pockets like Howrah and Bogtui its fears spread to areas untouched by any violence. The ruling dispensation is trying o to act quick and fast to allay this apprehension and prevent a repeat of Sagardighi bypoll results on a larger scale. As a part of that, the government has decided to start its ‘Duare Sarkar’ meaning Government at the door programme from April 1 to April 30 just on the eve of panchayat polls. As per this programme, the officials visit every house in rural areas to look into the grievances of the people. This programme has already reached more than 8 crore citizens in Bengal. The TMC sources feel that this programme will be able to take care of the disaffection of the minorities in the recent days as also the anger over examination scam. (IPA Service)