Fact remains the term "double engine government" was yet to gain currency when the Congress was at the helm both at the centre and the state. The Congress ruled Bengal from 1947 to 1977 barring few months of the Left front rule in two phases. After 1977 polls, the Left Front came to power and ruled for 34 years till 2011 polls when TMC led by Mamata Banerjee ousted the LF regime and then ruled for 15 years till the recent 2026 assembly polls. Both TMC and LF fought against the centre whether it was the Congress led or BJP led.

For Congress whose writ ran all over a newly independent nation subscribed to federalism. Even though the party was in governance in all the states of the country, declaring a ,"double engine," government was an anathema to its political culture.

Going by the concept of unity in diversity, the individuals at the the helm of affairs then would have been unlikely to include the term in their vocabulary. Things have taken a U-turn since then..

Independence saw a truncated country with West Bengal coming about in a partitioned state. Though writ of Congress ran both at the Centre and in West Bengal eruption of the party's factional politics triggered the resignation of the first chief minister of the state and noted Gandhian, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh.

Political observers feel that idealism took a back seat post Ghosh's ouster making way for real politic. The outgoing chief minister's integrity did not have too many takers at the state or the Centre.

Ghosh's strong steps against hoarders did not endear him to many in the party's state unit. One would be economical with truth to contend that this chief minister to whom integrity was an article of faith had champions in the Union government at the Centre.

Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy stepped into his shoes and ushered in what many feel was the golden era of the state. Several industries including Durgapur Steel plant in Burdwan, car manufacturing unit at Hind Motor in Hooghly came up and of course Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established becoming a centre of churning out highly skilled manpower who have done the country proud at home and abroad.

British owned industries like ICI, Shaw Wallace, Jardine Henderson and others continued to operate smoothly but did not enjoy the best of relations with the Congress government at the Centre for justifiable reasons. Yet iron and steel and jute industry were the mainstay of the private sector of West Bengal.

A rift set in among the residents of West Bengal as it was felt that the Centre run by the same political outfit as the state was underfunding it. Neglecting the plight of millions of refugees trekking in from East Pakistan and slashing the share of state's export duties heightened this feeling.

Visionary chief minister though he was, Dr Roy could not shield the steel industry from a body blow. It was freight equalisation policy of the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress government at the Centre that denied steel making units of West Bengal of a crucial advantage.

The freight equalisation regulation of 1952 subsidized the cost of transportation of coal and iron ore, ensuring they cost the same throughout the nation. It stripped resource rich eastern states including West Bengal of their geographical advantage paving the way for decades of economic

The long term impact on the state economy was not foreseen by stalwarts of the day nor did the double engine government make any difference. The damage was done and continued to plague the state economy till 1993 when the regulation was rolled back.

State Congress MPs did not raise a hue and cry on this issue. It would have meant criticising their own government as it was a "double engine" dispensation.

The double engine government chugged downhill thereafter. Development work came to almost a standstill after "Food Movement" erupted during the regime of chief minister Prafulla Chandra Sen.

A Congress government at the Centre led by Lal Bahadur Shastri and followed by Indira Gandhi did not provide the economic succour which can be expected from a double engine government. The Congress state government fell to popular resentment in 1967.

The next four years were marked by a break in the double engine governance as violence threatened to turn into anarchy in what was once one of the best governed and most prosperous states of the country. Split in Congress and CPI(M) coupled .with ultra left politics erupting at Naxalbari, a hamlet in north Bengal saw politics and development process turn turtle.

The elections in 1972 saw the return of a Congress government. But there allegations of rigging in polling booth by the Congress workers . Double engine governance was again in place. But development work which should have been done to put West Bengal back to its premier position was missing and the state went further downhill following the imposition of Emergency.

A slew of election promises have seen BJP forming the government for the first time in the state. Shifting the state secretariat to Writers' Buildings from Nabanna, rolling out bulldozers to raze unauthorised buildings and wayside shops and a ban on animal slaughter in open space are among its significant steps so far .

But these measures do not distinguish it as a double engine governance. Nor are steps taken in RG Kar Medical College trainee doctor's rape and murder case and the drive to unearth the misdeeds of the Trinamool Congress state government are not be adequate to give the impression that the double engine government is working.

The BJP is moving towards an “one umbrella rule" in the country which Congress achieved under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi after independence, Union home minister, Amit Shah said in Gujarat on Sunday He seems to be unaware that such a system brought mixed blessings for West Bengal. (IPA Service)