But his first move has met with Waterloo. The people of Bengal overwhelmingly voted for Mamata’s Trinamool. Shah, the master strategist, for accomplishing the goal had tried to cobble up a winning formula by inducting apolitical individuals, cine stars and political turncoats, pushing the seasoned BJP workers and cadres to the backbench. But it did not work. His commander for the Battle of Bengal, Siddharth Nath Singh, the BJP national secretary, had even coined a new audacious slogan “Bhaag Mamata Bhaag”. But sheer bad luck to Shah and Singh that the people of Bengal, irrespective of being Bengali or non Bengali, rejected their overtures.

There is the substance in the charges of BJP’s Singh that Mamata Banerjee’s unleashed terror and resorted to violence during the civic polls, especially in Kolkata. But the party did not drag it to the level of making a political issue. Nevertheless the results of the 92 municipalities across the state make it explicit that the BJP’s strategy to polarize the Bengali society has boomeranged. No doubt the people of Bengal were feeling angry and cut up with Mamata, but they never accepted the BJP doctrine to divide the society on communal line.

It is not that only BJP was the target of the Trinamool attack. The CPI(M) has also leveled allegations of violence and use of muscle power against Trinamool. But interestingly it along with the dispirited Congress has performed better than the BJP. Throughout Bengal while left has won 17 per cent of the municipal seats, out of 19\68, the BJP had managed to win only 6 per cent seats. In fact the Congress has bagged nearly 9 per cent of the seats. Of the 91 municipal bodies while the Trinamool has managed to win 70, the Left has gained control of 6 bodies followed by Congress which triumphed in five. The BJP could not win even one body. Significantly Trinamool has won 114 of the 144-member Kolkata Municipal Corporation Board

In Siliguri Municipality, Left Front has won 17 wards and Trinamool Congress has 13 wards. Left’s mayoral candidate Ashok Bhattacharya has won in ward number 6 of Siliguri Municipality. Bhattacharya was the minister for Municipal Affairs and Urban Development and Town Planning during the Left Front rule in West Bengal. He was chairman of Siliguri municipality from 1987 to 1991. He faced his biggest defeat in the 2011 assembly election when he lost to Rudranath Bhattacharya of Trinamool Congress.

Actually what does it imply? The message is clear and loud that notwithstanding Mamata’s omissions and commissions and her alleged involvement in Sharadha scam, the people of state are not willing to repose their trust in a party having communal ideology and agenda. BJP’s allegation of government officials favouring Trinamool does not stand scrutiny. Just before the elections the BJP claimed of enrolling ten lakh members in the state. But the results manifest that even these members did not vote for the party.

The BJP’s national leadership from the beginning has been playing the wrong card. Initially they wanted to portray a corrupt and dishonest image of Mamata Banerejee. But it did not work. Even implicating some of her close aids and minister in the Sharadha scam by the CBI did not improve the credibility of the BJP. It made one tactical mistake. While the party accused Mamata of appeasing the Muslims, a section of whom was involved in anti national activities, the BJP nominated a number of Muslims as its candidates. Even it enrolled a huge population of Muslims as its members. In fact this strategy of the party backfired. The Hindu voters looked at it with skepticism and distrust.

A large chunk of the Muslims who had enrolled as the members were actually the card holders of the CPI(M). They had taken refuge with the saffron with the simple aim to get protection. They have been the core of the Marxist support. They preferred to side with their party in this election. In their hurry to present the façade of unity and expansion the two leaders even ignored the advice of the local leaders. It is an open secret that a major section of the state leadership did not subscribe to the style of functioning of their two leaders. Singh treating state leadership with contempt made most of them to recluse from the battle.

Ever since Modi emerged on the prime ministerial candidate, attempts were being made to split the Trinamool Congress. This had intensified in the wake of CBI crackdown in Sharadha scam. The leadership tried to engineer internal dissension within the party, with a section ready to switch over to the BJP under the leadership of Mukul Roy, the general secretary. Claims were even made that nearly 40 TMC MLAs were ready to join the BJP and simply waiting for a call. However the BJP functionaries said they had postponed the 'welcome ceremony' so that they can fully devote time and energy on the municipal elections.

It is truly ironical for the BJP. The party which claimed to replace Mamata’s rule has even failed to hit the stand as the runner-up. With Shah announcing BJP's 'Mission 2016' for West Bengal, the elections to Kolkata Municipality (KMC) and other civic bodies in the state were in fact a reality check for the party. For Shah civic polls were the first step for the final battle in 2016. Significantly, the RSS has also directed its cadres to ensure the defeat of the Trinamool.

Though the BJP has leveled serious charges of irregularity and resorting to terror against the Trinamool, the Calcutta High court had turned down the BJP’s appeal to withhold the results of the Kolkata municipal elections held on April 18, on the ground that there was “not enough proof” to substantiate the party’s allegation and charges against Trinamool Congress. This move of the BJP simply underlined that the saffron outfit was more interested in maligning Mamata and her party. (IPA Service)