Instead, sporadic clashes between the Trinamool Congress and Leftist supporters and, strangely, also between the former and Congress supporters have continued although the chief minister had called for calm soon after assuming charge. The tense relations between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress must be a source of satisfaction to the communists. They well know that if they lie low for some time, letting the people forget the intimidating cadre raj during their days in power, then 2016 will not seem too far away.

One reason for their hope is that Mamata does not seem to have given up her perpetually confrontationist style, which marked her politics when she was in the opposition. What is more, this innate pugnacity was evident even when she was a relatively junior figure in the Congress, which made her unhesitatingly take on the big guns of the party at the time – Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Somen Mitra and others – and even break away in a daring move when she could not have her own way in the organization.

While this feisty attitude served her well in battling the comrades, who knew that the police would not intervene if they ran amok, it can be a liability in a chief minister. It is not impossible that she hasn’t yet forgiven the Congress for its earlier dismissive treatment of her, not realizing that her street-smart ways were the right antidote for the Left. Similarly, the Congress may not have become accustomed to playing second fiddle to her.

The rocky relations between the two putative allies are not the only evidence of Mamata’s unpredictable, headstrong behaviour. The same self-centred, even cynical, style also characterized her stance \towards the Maoists. As long as the latter were on her side in the fight against the Left, Mamata was unequivocally indulgent towards them, opposing Operation Green Hunt and even ascribing some of the acts of depredation by the Maoists to the Marxists.

But, now that she no longer needs their support, there has been a u-turn in her position with Mamata even calling the Maoists “supari” killers. Such opportunism had also marked her on-and-off ties with the BJP till, finally, she chose the Congress when the BJP’s defeat at the centre reduced its usefulness as an ally. But, it isn’t only her individualistic political style which has scant regard for other parties – and, indeed, for members of her own party – which raises questions about her future. She also does not seem to have the vision needed to lift the state out of the present morass.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at least realized the mistake which his party made by driving industrialists out of the state and tried to make amends, even if wrongly by resorting to heavy-handed tactics. But, Mamata is apparently hamstrung by, first, her refusal to let industries (and nuclear plants) come up on farmland – her trump card against the Left – and, secondly, by her outdated “socialistic” distrust of private capital. Not surprisingly, her solution is what Ashok Mitra, finance minister in Jyoti Basu’s cabinet, said that Bhattacharjee should have done – set up public sector units. Arguably, the proposed PSUs may provide jobs to the Trinamool cadres, but it is doubtful whether they will be profitable enterprises and survive in a competitive world without guzzling government funds. There will be no end, therefore, of West Bengal’s industrial stagnation which began with gheraos and the flight of capital in the late 1960s.

When Mamata inducted people like Amit Mitra, formerly of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Manish Gupta, a former chief secretary of the state, into the cabinet, it was hoped that their experience in the business and bureaucratic worlds would enable her to overcome ideological bumps. But, as the leader of a one-person party, she does not seem to have any time for others. She is apparently banking, therefore, on a mammoth Rs 20,000 crore largesse from the centre, but it is doubtful whether the latter will oblige when Mamata is treating the Congress so shabbily in the state.

There is little doubt, therefore, that unless she depends more on expert advice in financial and industrial matters and shows greater respect towards her allies, her government will merely stumble along, negating hopes about the end of West Bengal’s nightmarish past, whose signs are still evident in the large number of child deaths in ill-equipped hospitals. (IPA Service)