She had promised many things before the elections but the most solemn of her pledges was that there would be no reprisals after the Trinamool victory. Badla noy, badal chai (we want change, not revenge) was her slogan. There was a widespread fear that the first few post-election days would witness a bloodbath in West Bengal as Trinamool and CPI-M cadres came to clashes. In fact, a senior Trinamool Congress leader expressed this apprehension to this reporter months before the elections. But she has made good her promise and apprehensions of armed clashes between supporters of the two parties have been belied. One of the first things she did on entering the Writers’ Buildings was to ask the police to take action against law-breakers irrespective of their party affiliations.

She had promised to “solve” the Gorkha problem (the demand for a separate Gorkhaland State) within three months. In the event, her interactions with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) have been positive. The GJM leaders, to be sure, have not formally given up their demand for Gorkhaland but publicly stated they had found in Mamata a sympathetic chief minister. They have postponed their agitation in Darjeeling, knowing fully well that she is against the separation of Darjeeling from West Bengal. A bi-partite agreement between the State Government and the GJM has been arrived at and soon a formal tripartite agreement between the Centre, the State and the GJM is on the anvil.

True to her word, she has enacted a legislation to enable the State Government to return the 400 acres of land forcibly acquired from “unwilling” farmers at Singur for the Tata small car project. The Tatas have gone before the Calcutta High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the law. At the time of writing, the case is pending before the court. The CPI-M is not happy but after the electoral defeat it cannot oppose the law publicly for fear of adverse public reaction. On record it says it is not against returning the lands taken from farmers, whether willing or unwilling. Other Left Front constituents have supported the Bill. State Forward Bloc supremo Ashok Ghosh has criticized the Tatas for trying to undo the law enacted by the State Assembly.

There has been a perceptible change in the administration also. By her frequent surprise visits to different government offices and hospitals she has delivered a clear message that laxity, sloth and negligence will not be tolerated. Unlike the previous regime, she has been seeking the cooperation of all sides. For the first time, leaders of about a dozen different employees associations in Writers’ Buildings with different political affiliations were invited by a chief minister to discuss how to improve functioning. Leaders of the CPI-M controlled Coordination Committee also participated. Her announcement that all teachers would be paid their salaries on the first of every month, has been welcomed by all teachers’ organizations cutting across party lines. Even pro-CPI-M teachers welcomed it. Her decision to pay salary to government employees by cheque and not in cash is another important decision. There have been allegations that salaries were being paid to non-existent employees. Payment through cheques will stop this long-continuing fraud.

The negative role of the CPI-M is making things easier for Mamata. The leaders of Alimuddin Street are yet to reconcile themselves to the loss of power. Their arrogant behaviour and intemperate utterances (like former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee warning that “we are keeping a strict watch on all her activities”) show that the party has learnt nothing and still persists in its old ways. The unearthing of huge quantities of arms and ammunition and digging up of skeletons of their political opponents, mostly Trinamool supporters, in the strongholds of the party all over the State have left people wondering what would have happened if the CPI-M had returned to power again this time.

The State treasury is empty. What is left is a whopping debt burden of over two lakh crores of rupees. That is a severe handicap for the new government. Fortunately the Centre has assured her of all sympathy and support. The State’s annual plan allocation in the current year has been raised by four thousand crore rupees. She has promised to create two hundred thousand jobs in the next two years. Future alone will tell whether she can make good her promise. Similar promises were made by the Left Front Government also, but they never came to fruition.

Her recent interactions with the captains of industry were free and frank. The response of the corporate sector was one of cautious optimism. She has been able to remove the fear that she is anti-industry. This was the image that the propaganda machinery of the CPI-M worked overtime to build.

But her main problem will be her party. Post-election, a mass exodus of lumpen elements of the CPI-M into the Trinamool Congress has started. Allegations of extortion are coming from different places, including Kolkata. Recently she asked the State party president not to give new membership to anyone without verifying his record. The Trinamool has remained a one-leader party. As long as the party was not in power, it worked. But now that she has been saddled with the responsibility of running the State, she will have to build up a chain of command at lower levels. Compared to the CPI-M, the Trinamool had never had a party “organization.” That has to be built up quickly and therein lies the real challenge to Mamata. She has now tremendous goodwill of the people. Her performance in the coming days will show whether this goodwill will remain intact on wither away. (IPA Service)