Exasperated and harassed beyond endurance by left-backed hooliganism, former freedom fighter and Congress leader Mukherjee had admitted bitterly that he was heading an “uncivilised, barbarian United Front government,” nearly four decades ago.

Ms. Banerjee, no freedom fighter, has a different take on her predicament. Unlike Mukherjee, there is no trace of self-criticism, even as she throws in the towel. “Had I known earlier (how critical was the situation in West Bengal), I would never have been here (as Chief Minister)… Conditions are so bad, that there would be no takers for this State even at an auction…”, she remarked, inappropriately at a function where a water fountain was launched, guarded heavily by the police. Evidently pleased with her own remark, she repeated her “auction” barb at another function later.

Even for the rapidly dwindling flock of her admirers, Ms. Banerjee’s terminology, ever bordering on the risqué, was hard to digest. As with most of Ms Banerjee’s public pronouncements, her wail about West Bengal’s financial woes was not based on facts. Those attending her pre-election meetings during the 2011 State Assembly elections will nail the lie in her words. Time and again she had referred, rightly enough, to the massive debt of Rs 1,90,000 crore (at that point of time) the Left Front had incurred with the centre.

Ignoring warnings of most economists, the Left Front’s disastrous, populist measures had firmly pushed West Bengal into a debt trap. So, she had obviously known what financial difficulties she would be facing as a new Chief Minister, Ms Banerjee was both right and wrong. She was certainly within her rights to savage the Front for its ill-advised profligacy, but quite wrong in her response to the crisis she inherited. Instead of a seasoned politician, she acted as an irresponsible dream merchant.

Amazingly, her populist response belied her own criticism of the Left’s performance and policies. She sought to outdo them in winning cheap popularity. Fully aware of the state’s precarious finances, she still promised all sections of the society everything they wanted — jobs for the unemployed, new projects for the tribes and the Gorkhas, better deal for Muslims, more opportunities for women, better salary and working conditions for government employees, better roads and transport for the people, better service and facilities in the hospitals, scores of new railway projects — the catalogue of promises was endless.

Nearly 18 months into her tenure, there are signs that the people who supported her enthusiastically are becoming restive, as they sense that most of her promises will remain unfulfilled. After one of her favoured Ministers was heckled at Singur by angry villagers, who protested against the government’s failure to ensure the return of their cultivable land taken over for the aborted Nano car project, the “fiery” Chief Minister called off a scheduled public meeting. Instead, she attended an administrative meeting, under heavy security at Singur, which she visited for the first time after the polls.

This is quite a change from the fire-eating political persona she earlier used to project, but the explanation was brutal: “For the first time in Singur, an economically flourishing township, there is hunger among a section of the people, thanks to Mamata’s anti Nano agitation in 2007,” said social activist Bolan Gangopadhyay.

And it was no different at Loba village in Birbhum, where people attending her recent rally did not respond to her questions, “Do you people trust my words? Do you?” Peeved by the lack of response, Ms. Banerjee appealed to them to trust her. She asked the villagers, whose kin had been injured in a police firing, to come up and accept cheques by way of compensation. No one moved. She left the cheques with the district authorities. She took care to maintain her sangfroid, but the message is clear: West Bengal is beginning to tire of its Chief Minister.

It is common knowledge that at the centre, as of now, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is isolated, following its pullout from the UPA-II Ministry. Its failure to engineer a crisis for the Congress on the floor of Parliament over the FDI issue ended in a resounding flop, as its no-confidence motion won only three votes from other parties in a house of nearly 550 members! Whereas other leaders and parties would have gracefully retired and tried to regroup in silence, Ms. Banerjee and her brigade of shouting MPs are made of sterner stuff. The pullout at the centre also ensured her party’s political isolation at the state level, as the Cong(I) has now joined forces with the opposition, where the CPI(M) is a strong presence and the BJP has also increased its mass support in some areas lately. True, the TMC has an absolute majority in the state Assembly, but it had fought the 2011 polls in alliance with the Congress, which won 40-odd seats and accounted for nearly 14-15 per cent of the aggregate vote.

As an editorial in a major local daily explains, the TMC-Congress alliance, even in 2011 did not win 50 per cent of the total votes. It had won around 49 per cent, while the left opposition won 42 per cent, of the total votes. Following the break with the Congress, the share of TMC votes would be at best some 33 per cent or thereabouts, which means the party is far from enjoying the support of a majority among the voters. This apparently has not dawned upon the leader of the ruling party here, who went around claiming that she had “fulfilled 99 per cents of her pre poll commitments in 18 months” or “given jobs to between 300,000 to 600,000 people,” it noted.

Now that the burden of public expectations is catching up with her, Ms. Banerjee finds herself desperately short of new ideas and catchy slogans. So she falls back on her heavily overworked criticism of “34 years misrule of the Left front.” Nowadays, it is supplemented by a new anti-centre rant, accusing Delhi of trying to “starve” Bengal! Delhi’s fault: it has not yielded to her repeated requests to consider a three-year moratorium on the repayment of central loans.

Incidentally, during the first 18 months of her tenure, the quantum of interest on the annual debt repayment to the centre has increased from around Rs 22,000 crore, according to official estimates. This suggests that for all her claims of good governance, actually the state government has sunk deeper into debt. Things have worsened. By her steadfast refusal to increase revenues by raising taxes and exploring other means and the government’s withdrawal from any kind of land acquisition for new projects, it could not have been otherwise. There have been virtually no new investments in all these months.

Most of the taxpayers’ money has been spent in buying useless trident lights for greater Kolkata, or painting greater Kolkata landmarks in blue and white colours. The lights, put up in already well-lit areas, have cost Rs 30 crore, the orders having been given without proper tenders. The electricity charges come to Rs 80 crore annually, which the Corporation cannot pay! The order for supplying cans of blue and white colour, according to informed circles, went to only one supplier closely related to a highly placed Minister in the state cabinet. The decision to give a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 to some 30,000 Imams of Muslims mosques and another Rs 1,000 for their helpers, will cost Rs 80 crore annually. Followers of no other religion have been accommodated. at public expense. Ms Banerjee’s public meetings often attended by Tollywood film people have cost the state Rs 25 crore so far.

These being the state government’s policy priorities, no wonder opposition leader in the state assembly Dr. Suryakanta Mishra says, “The Chief Minister is right about the situation here. She knows best how to bring a state to a position where no one will buy it in an auction,” without reference to her stint as the Union Minister for Railways. (IPA Service)