Mamata's triumph

The thumping victory of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TC) in the Indian state’s West Bengal assembly poll that brought an end to the 34-year-long rule by the Left is a proof that the Indian voters have come of age, and can no longer be taken for a ride on the basis of ideology and caste at the cost of development. If the victories of Nitish Kumar in Bihar earlier in 2005 and 2010 were an indication of that, Mamata’s unprecedented success in a state, which was until now considered the bastion of the Left, cements that view. The election result of West Bengal amply demonstrated that in a world that is increasingly getting connected and where voters regularly get updates of development taking place at every other part of the country and the world, politics that cannot deliver will have to eventually bite the dust.



Mamata’s victory is truly remarkable. The TC-Congress alliance spearheaded by “didi” or elder sister as she is popularly known among the masses won an extraordinary 228 seats out of the total 294. Her party alone won 184 seats, just 12 shy of the two-thirds majority. While Mamata’s humble lifestyle (she lives in a nondescript residence, wears simple saris and cheap slippers) and her fierce resistance to land-acquisition drives by the government in Nandigram and Singur to set up mega factories may have struck a chord among the masses, it was essentially the promise of development and the lack of it under the decades-old communist rule that enabled her to register such a convincing victory.



While the victory may have been sweet for the party and the 56-year-old leader, we are sure she understands that the road ahead is not an easy one. The people, hungry for development, have given her the mandate to occupy the Writers’ Buildings, seat of power of the West Bengal government, and if she cannot deliver the goods quickly, the same people will be the reason for her downfall five years later when the next elections take place. Delivering on the promise of development may not be easy but it is not impossible as Nitish Kumar has amply demonstrated in Bihar.



Nepali politicians too can take a cue or two from West Bengal’s election result. Gone are the days when people used to be swayed by lofty jargons and colorful ideology. What Nepalis want, much like the people of Bihar and West Bengal, are proper roads, uninterrupted supply of power, clean drinking water, access to basic commodities, safety and security. At these times of political stalemate in Nepal, a party that can assure and deliver these services will be trusted, respected and voted into power. The ones that only promise but do not give tangible development results may rise to power for the short term but, in the long run, will be rejected by the people for good and be consigned to the pages of history books. The fall of the seemingly impenetrable red bastion in West Bengal is a testimony of that fact.

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