First the spewing of venom over an electoral battle pitch. Then a ‘tu tu-main main’ (‘he said-she said’) over aftermath of cyclone Yaas and finally an ugly tug-of-war over a top civil servant West Bengal chief secretary Alapon Bandyopadhyay.
The game of political one-upmanship between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was out in the open for long – to be precise, ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the principal challenger to ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
However, the way this catfight of sorts has spilled out into public domain over the last few days is unprecedented not just in the history on Bengal, but in the entire country’s post-independence journey as a federation of states and a multi-party democracy.
Right through the run-up to these elections in West Bengal and even during all eight phases of polling in the state, the intense turf war between ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had given these elections the look and feel of an ‘eye-for-an-eye’ that was quite unprecedented in Bengal’s political history. That is why, there was a lot at stake.
While for Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata it was a huge challenge to stave off the massive BJP election machinery that included heavyweights such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and federal home minister Amit Shah, for the saffron brigade, the challenge was to further build up on the gains of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and wrest power in a state that has traditionally rejected right-wing ideology.
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