WEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement that her Trinamool Congress government will be doling out a whopping Rs.28 crore to all the community Durga Pujas in the State has sparked off a major political controversy, once again bringing to the fore her proclivity to use the religion card in politics, especially ahead of elections.
Clearly with an eye to stemming the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Mamata Banerjee has promised to give Rs.10,000 to each of the State’s 28,000 puja committees (3,000 of which are in Kolkata). The government has also waived the licence fee that puja organisers had to pay and increased the concession on electricity bills from 20 per cent to 23 per cent. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Fire and Emergency Services Department will bear the expenditure for the Kolkata pujas, while the Departments of Tourism, Consumer Affairs, and Self Help Groups, along with the West Bengal Police, will take care of the pujas in the rest of the State.
While calling it a “gift” from the State government to facilitate “community development”, the Chief Minister made no attempt to camouflage the political overtones behind the move. “Out of mischief, a lot of money may be offered to you from outside. Do not succumb to the temptation. There is no need to beg anything from anyone,” she said at a pre-puja coordination meeting with puja organisers. This is being seen as a blatant attempt by Mamata Banerjee to win back into the Trinamool fold those Hindu voters who, disenchanted by her perceived politics of minority appeasement, have begun to lean towards the BJP.
According to Surjya Kanta Mishra, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and secretary of the West Bengal unit of the party, the State government is engaging in “competitive communalism”. “For the last two years, she tried to compete with the Hindutva forces at their own events: when the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] gave a call for Ram Navami celebrations, she also organised Ram Navami processions; when the RSS celebrated Janmashtami, so did she. This competitive communalism is ultimately leading to political polarisation, a choice between the Trinamool or the BJP,” he told Frontline . Mishra believes that secular democratic forces are still strong in West Bengal, but there is an increasing perception that the main political battle is essentially between the Trinamool and the BJP. “This is an illusion that a section of the media has also helped create, that in Bengal if you want to fight the Trinamool you have to take the side of the BJP, and if you need to take on the BJP, you have to seek help from the Trinamool. It can influence people for some time but not all the time,” he said.
The BJP, too, did not miss the opportunity to come down heavily on the government. “In the first place, the State government should not be funding any pujas. For so long they [the Mamata Banerjee government] were trying only to keep the Muslims happy by extending various favours to them. This has angered the Hindus and, as is evident in the elections, resulted in the rise of the BJP, and now in an attempt to take a pro-Hindu step, the government is doing an illegal thing. People are not fools. They are laughing at this gesture,” Dilip Ghosh, president of the BJP’s West Bengal unit, told Frontline .
Mamata Banerjee’s announcement came just six days after the Majerhat bridge (one of the busiest flyovers in Kolkata) collapsed, leading to the death of three people, and has raised questions about her government’s priorities. “They could not even finalise a meagre tender to repair the bridge, but they can spend Rs.28 crore on Durga Puja,” said Mishra, referring to a tender that was floated in April for “urgent” surface repair of the bridge. Moreover, with the State’s debt burden exceeding Rs.3.6 lakh crore, the government can ill afford such extravagances. However, it is clear that for Mamata Banerjee, tackling the BJP’s rise and its brand of Hindutva politics with her own brand of “soft” Hindutva takes precedence over other immediate requirements.
Perception of minority appeasement
“The rise of the BJP in West Bengal is an undeniable fact. There has been an exodus from the Left and the Congress camps to the BJP, and also a section of the Trinamool people who are not finding any scope for furthering their interests within the party are trying their luck with the BJP. This move will not only counter the BJP’s Hindutva campaign but also stop once and for all the allegations of minority appeasement that keep cropping up against our party,” a highly placed Trinamool source told Frontline .
This perception of minority appeasement by the Mamata Banerjee government is not new. In April 2012, barely a year after coming to power, she announced a monthly honorarium of Rs.2,500 for all imams in the State and a stipend of Rs.1,500 to muezzins. This was widely criticised in political circles and was subsequently struck down by the Calcutta High Court, which ruled it to be “unconstitutional” and going against the public interest. The Chief Minister’s evident proximity to Muslim religious leaders, who are often seen sharing the public stage with her and are known to pressure the government on different issues from time to time, has further added fuel to the opposition’s accusation that she plays the religion card in her politics. This overt emphasis on consolidating the Muslim vote was instrumental in her victory over the 34-year-old CPI(M)-led Left Front rule in 2011 and has given a further fillip to the BJP, which has been establishing a base in the State since the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The electoral polarisation was further exacerbated when for two consecutive years, 2016 and 2017, the State government suspended for a day the immersion of the idol on the last day of the Durga Puja as it coincided with Muharram.
According to the BJP, this was “the turning point” for many Bengali Hindus as Durga Puja is the biggest festival for them, and the impact of the government’s decision could be felt all across the State and not just in Kolkata. “The same Mamata Banerjee who just a year ago stopped the immersion of the idol of the Goddess to appease the minority community is today, out of fear of the BJP, giving away Rs.10,000 to each community puja all over the State,” said Abhijit Roy Choudhury, senior BJP leader from north Bengal. Even the Calcutta High Court did not spare the State government for its decision to postpone the immersion of the Durga idol for the sake of the Muharram procession. “There has been a clear endeavour on the part of the State government to pamper and appease the minority section of the public at the cost of the majority section without there being any plausible justification,” it had said.
The BJP’s growth in West Bengal since the Trinamool came to power has been rapid. Unlike the CPI(M), which had successfully managed to keep the forces of the Sangh Parivar at bay at the grass-roots level, Mamata Banerjee does not have an organised, disciplined cadre base to do that. As a result, not only the RSS but also other Hindutva organisations have seen an exponential growth in West Bengal. The rise of Hindutva forces has changed the political narrative in the State even though it has not yet led to the BJP winning a substantial number of seats in elections. If the CPI(M)-led government had been careful to maintain an equidistance from the affairs of all religions and never permitted the mixing of religion and politics, the Trinamool government has tried to embrace them all and use them as political tools. This has not only led to the growth of religious fundamentalist forces but also resulted in an alarming increase in communal clashes all over the State. Even political battles are ending up with communal overtones.
What has perhaps been particularly worrying for Mamata Banerjee is the BJP’s performance in this year’s panchayat elections. Even though the Trinamool swept what was one of the most violent and bloody elections in recent times, the BJP managed to make inroads at the gram panchayat level into some of the ruling party’s strongholds, particularly the tribal belts of Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri. The Trinamool is well aware that this development can slowly snowball into a major threat for it. Mamata Banerjee’s decision to fund community pujas is also a two-pronged tactical move. A Trinamool member pointed out that almost all the Durga Puja committees across the State are dominated by the Trinamool party, and with this move Mamata Banerjee is consolidating and strengthening her political base. “This move is countering the BJP on the one hand, and simultaneously addressing the core areas of the party vote bank,” said the Trinamool source.
However, political observers and social scientists believe that even if such religious overtures bring an immediate political dividend, in the long run it is pernicious both for the political party concerned and for society at large. “What Mamata Banerjee has done is set off an endless loop. She started it by giving honorariums to imams, and now she has to maintain a balance by giving sops to Hindus as well. If the opposition is able to impress upon the people that this money can be spent for development purposes, this can backfire on her,” said the social scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.
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