by SNM Abdi
Did he dump her or did she? Even as the estranged duo speak in riddles instead of coming clean, it seems that the BJP – which desperately wants to come to power in West Bengal - either seduced Mukul, or arm-twisted him into deserting Didi. But contrary to the media hype, I would reckon that the BJP stands to gain very little by snatching Mukul - and the Trinamool Congress stands to lose very little by losing Mukul!
The inter-personal dimension of the break-up is somehow more engaging than its political ramifications which are not much anyway. Mukul and Mamata spoke to each other 50 times a day. They also exchanged over a 100 smses daily. I got these figures from Mukul last year.
Mukul Roy was Mamata's shadow. PTI image
He also confided that many visitors marveled at his patience because he would hear them out often until well past midnight in his Nizam Palace chamber while he was actually waiting for Didi’s final telephonic instruction to call it a day. She would virtually tell Mukul when to go to sleep, however long or tiring the day was.
There was an unwritten rule in Mukul’s chamber. If his phone rang and he took the call and said “Hain Didi” (“Yes Didi”), each and every visitor – including MPs, ministers and MLAs - promptly got up and left Mukul’s room so that he could talk freely to Mamata without worrying about others overhearing their conversation. On the rare occasion when a visitor failed to take the cue, the ever-polite Mukul slipped into the attached toilet clasping his mobile.
For the record, Mukul and Mamata didn’t WhatsApp. Mukul’s two phones are bereft of WhatsApp. Not too long ago, I wanted him to look at a video clip and comment on it. As Mukul’s phones didn’t have WhatsApp, he gave me his Man Friday Swapan Dey’s mobile number to forward the video for his viewing.
Mukul was much more than Mamata’s second-in-command during her trials and triumphs since the Trinamool’s birth. He was her alter ego.He was not only privy to most things Mamata did, but was consulted on a daily basis before she made any move. He was like her shadow. When Trinamool was on a high – and Mamata fantasized about being the Prime Minister – the rank and file was sure that Mukul would inherit the chief ministership.
I suspect that the fabled Mamata-Mukul equation ruptured before the last Lok Sabha elections when Mamata refused nominations to as many as eight candidates proposed by Mukul. Dismissing them, Mamata fielded actors, singers and sportsmen who would be forever grateful and loyal to her for making them MPs. Clearly, she didn’t want MPs who would swear allegiance to Mukul rather than to her. Most of Mamata’s hand-picked celebrities won hands down.
The rupture never healed. On the surface, it seemed to be business as usual with Mukul shouldering all major responsibilities as before. But the rift gradually widened until it became a chasm as Mamata propped up her MP-nephew, Abhisekh Banerjee, as an alternative to Mukul and began clipping the latter’s wings.
also see
Mukul probably walked out on Mamata to save his skin, or rather to save himself from being skinned alive by CBI and ED at the BJP’s behest. To be sure, Mukul is entangled in the Saradha scam in which Trinamool MPs and a minister have been arrested and jailed. By ditching Mamata, he wants to evade arrest and humiliation. The wise often often err on the side of caution.
But Mukul is hardly in a position to return the favour if he has indeed cut a deal with the BJP. Even if he finally breaks away, he will cut a sorry figure because only a handful will desert the Trinamool and join him. The prospects of Mukul joining the BJP or floating a new party are bleak. Mukul is in no position to bring anything substantive to the BJP table.
A Mamata-led Trinamool is poised to win next year’s assembly elections in West Bengal hands down. Her two formidable vote-banks are intact. Mamata will once again reap the anti-Left vote which swept her to power in West Bengal in 2011 and ensured 34 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 last year. Similarly, Muslims will vote for her en masse as they see her as a bulwark against the BJP. And in a state where Muslims account for nearly 30 percent of voters, their support is a boon for any party.
BJP has delusions of power after the Mamata-Mukul split. But its hopes are bound to come crashing down. Dubbing the PDP-BJP government in Jammu & Kashmir an example of Hindu-Muslim unity, West Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha has announced that come 2016 and the two communities will jointly vote the BJP to power in West Bengal too! Sinha must realize that whatever little gains his party has made is at the expense of the communists And neither the J&K results nor Mukul can loosen the Trinamool’s vice-like grip next year.
0 comments:
Post a Comment