The functional limitations of the TMC brand of activism — relentless one-point no-holds-barred agitations against all opponents until 'success' is achieved, incorporating lies and blackmail if necessary — are being exposed in a manner rarely witnessed during the tenure of the UPA II Ministry.

Initially, Ms Banerjee had decided to play the innocent victim too sensitive to congratulate India’s new Prime Minister on his massive victory. She had been unusually abusive, even by her own earthy standards, against Mr. Modi during the pre-election campaign, so her discomfiture was understandable. While all parties sent routine congratulatory messages, their leaders visiting the national capital to reach out to the new Government, Ms Banerjee sulked away to glory in Kolkata. Other TMC leaders also stayed put. She pulled up veteran leader Saugata Ray for suggesting that there was no need to oppose the BJP from day one.

Given India’s federal system of centre-state relations, such isolationism could not continue for long. Soon, senior State Minister Dr Amit Mitra had to go to Delhi for talks with Union Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss Bengal’s financial position and problems. While Ms Banerjee gave top priority to celebrating the success of the Kolkata Knight Riders with Bollywood and local stars, her Tamil Nadu and Orissa counterparts discussed development issues with the new Prime Minister.

Her contempt for public reaction in West Bengal still borders on the extreme. About the same time, she appointed as the head of the Department of Vocational Training yet another actor, of all people, whose knowledge of the subject was open to question. It was no different from appointing Subhaprasanna, a controversial painter, to a senior position at a prominent juridical Institution, or making Lok Sabha MPs out of old actresses like Sandhya Roy and Moon Moon Sen in 2014, keeping out veteran party faithfuls. Earlier she had appointed dramatist Shaonli Mitra as member of the Railway Committee to monitor passenger complaints. It did not seem that she had learnt any lessons from the national victory of the BJP or its rising vote share in her Bengal stronghold.

Modi continued to act as the proverbial cat among the TMC pigeons opposing him in Bengal. After ignoring Ms Banerjee much in the same manner that he had sidelined Mr. Nitish Kumar and others, he tossed out a line of praise during his reply to the debate on the Presidential address for Ms Banerjee. Significantly he used faint, low key praise, mentioning her as his 'sister' and appreciating her efforts to 'develop' Bengal.

Unknown to Ms Banerjee, Modi’s gesture had an impact even within TMC circles. Even during the poll campaign, most TMC leaders had admitted to newsmen in confidence that they felt deeply embarrassed by their leader’s choice of bad, even vulgar, language, in her references to Mr Modi. Now the Prime Minister’s assuaging one-liner left them once more in the hand-wringing, head-shaking stage. They sensed political initiative slipping out of their hands, as Modi’s approach was openly and vocally appreciated by most people in Kolkata!

It seemed the BJP was toying with the TMC. Earlier, Modi’s sneering banter had rendered Ms Banerjee’s vulgar abuse of him as singularly ineffective during the pre-poll campaign. In Bengal, the BJP had sent a strong delegation to Sandeshkhali, south 24 Parganas where armed TMC goons had opened fire and wounded 21 people for supporting the BJP during the polls. They met local police officials and the state Chief Secretary who tried his best to duck an appointment. The local police had not even cared to collect the spent cartridges or talk to those injured being treated in ill-equipped hospitals!

The team submitted a strong report to Union Home Minister Mr Rajnath Singh and drew the attention of the national authorities monitoring atrocities against SC/ST communities, towards the failure of the state police at Sandeshkhali.

Modi may have desisted from attacking Ms Banerjee in Parliament, but his party has gone on the offensive against the ruling TMC post LS polls. 'Nowhere after the elections there have been political clashes except West Bengal, where the BJP is being targeted,' says State Party President Rahul Sinha. The Central BJP leader in charge of West Bengal Mr, Siddharth Singh, announced ,'We plan to rid west Bengal of the TMC Menace and misrule by 2016 and to fight the coming civic polls very seriously.'

In other words, the BJP is blowing hot and cold against the TMC, keeping it confused and off balance. With anti TMC votes amounting to 61 per cent of the aggregate in Bengal, and given the exodus to join its ranks by supporters of all parties including the TMC, it is clear that the saffron party is in the process of increasing its present 17 per cent share of Bengal votes. ‘The difference is being felt even among minorities as well as other sections of the people, as it is clear that the BJP is the only party which can deliver, unlike the TMC, the Congress or the Left,’ says an observer.

Analysts feel that a public rebuke to the West Bengal government on its poor record in maintaining even minimal law and order, in the manner of the centre pulling up the UP Government for its failure to check increasing incidents of rapes, could not be ruled out. Significantly, a second BJP team is currently visiting Birbhum where again a party supporter, a Muslim to boot, was killed by TMC goons. It would not meet any state official or Minister, but simply report to central authorities, as the Sandeshkhali visit did not make any difference to the law and order situation.

Ms Banerjee’s unexpected overture to the Left leaders, to whom she suggested virtually a joint front against the BJP, has had not much effect. Left cadres and supporters put their foot down and criticised leaders like CPI(M)’s Biman Bose and CPI’s Manju Majumdar, for even meeting the Chief Minister. She never had time for Left delegations during her three year rule so far, never replied to scores of letters written to her by opposition leaders and never answered questions in the West Bengal Assembly, even as her cadres ran riot and carried on a mayhem of violence against all opposition, the police remaining bystanders.

Ms Banerjee’s switch-over to the role of a political victim to win some public sympathy fails to conceal her all-out aggression against all opponents, media and the civil society during her three year tenure so far. This may haunt her prospects in the days ahead. TMC leader Derek O’Brien’s conciliatory words towards the BJP in the Rajya Sabha may have come too late. (IPA Service)