At one stroke, Mamata slips back into street fighter mode

Hours after the CBI and Kolkata Police commenced a showdown, Mamata was doing what she has always done best - staging a streetside dharna, out in the open, in direct proximity with the common voter, all eyes firmly on her.

Mamata banerjee, mamata vs cbi, mamata vs centre, cbi kolkata police showdown, mamata vs Modi government, Rajeev kumar, kolkata police commissioner, kolkata police, indian express — Mamata Banerjee at Dharna manch Monday. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

Who writes her script? No really, who does? Not only has West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee managed to extract maximum political mileage from what was essentially an administrative impasse, but an incredible combination of coincidences has ensured that once again, at a time when she most needed it, she has assumed centre stage as a political street fighter, a role she is most comfortable in, and one which has served her excellently in the past. And the most wonderful thing for her is, the opportunity has been handed to her on a platter, as though following a written script.

Those who have seen her rise through the ranks of the Congress as a young firebrand, mentored by current Pradesh Congress president Somen Mitra, among others, will not be surprised at how smoothly Mamata has slipped back into her battle-ready avatar, one she had been forced to send into hibernation once she came to power. The unrestrained street fighter was forced to morph into the tough-talking but controlled head of government. Senior bureaucrats have occasionally spoken of her discomfort in the confined corridors of power, and it should come as no surprise that she has pounced on the opportunity to get back on the street, working her unique brand of agitprop.

Hours after the CBI and Kolkata Police commenced a showdown regarding the CBI raid on Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s residence in connection with the agency’s investigation of West Bengal’s various chit fund scams, Mamata was doing what she has always done best – staging a streetside dharna, out in the open, in direct proximity with the common voter, all eyes firmly on her. Spotting a political opportunity, and grabbing it. Turning an administrative showdown into a political ‘good-vs-evil’ battle, a battle to save the Constitution once again demonstrating her ability to unite the country’s Opposition against the BJP, ostensibly her enemy number one.

The script doesn’t end here. Not only has Mamata effectively moved the state administration to one of the city’s busiest crossings, but the miraculously timed annual investiture ceremony of Kolkata Police, which is essentially at the heart of the controversy, has now been held at the same crossing. Typically, Mamata has milked the situation to the full, apologising to the “Kolkata Police family” for having to hold the ceremony on “the streets”, but also pointing out the close affinity between the police and those same streets, and paying dramatic, glowing tributes to “my police force, the best in the country”. Stridently proclaiming her love for the battlefield, and how the “entire country is standing with us”.

Part three of the script concerns the venue of her ‘Satyagraha’ dharna. The last time Kolkata’s Metro Channel witnessed a Mamata Banerjee sit-in, the year was 2006, and the issue was Singur and the Tata Nano factory. The dharna included a fast unto death which landed her in hospital. Then, as now, she was facing an electoral challenge, and the 26-day demonstration signalled the beginning of the end for the Left Front government and the onset of the Trinamul regime.

This time, her focus is on a “Constitutional crisis”, and the sweeping drama of the situation has, for now, reduced her political opponents to silence or at best, lame responses. Predictably, at the post-investiture-ceremony speech, she has raised the issue of “Articles 355 and 356” (concerning the imposition of President’s rule), and promised to hit back with Article 144 and a “no entry board”. The street soldier is going into battle again, all guns blazing.

What will emerge from the imbroglio remains to be seen, but anyone who has conducted even a cursory study of her life and times will realise that when Mamata Banerjee stages a political event of this magnitude, she’s in her ‘in it to win it’ mode.