Why Mamata Banerjee offered to resign?
As West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is confronted by one crisis after another following the horrific Kolkata hospital rape and murder, a big question looms over her: Will she be able to overcome these tough times, probably the toughest of her long political career?
After the month-long standoff between junior doctors and her government worsened on Thursday, with the protesters refusing to join talks with the government, Mamata claimed they wanted her “chair” and not justice for the doctor, and offered to resign “for the sake of the people”.
“They are here for the chair, not justice. For the sake of the people, I am ready to resign. I don’t want the chief ministership,” she said. “I apologise to the people of Bengal, who expected that the issue would be resolved today.”
Why did Mamata offer to resign? One explanation is that she was perhaps trying to put “counter-emotional” pressure — something akin to reverse psychology — on the young doctors and others opposing her, and burnish her image as someone who cared only about the people, not the CM’s post.
Problems galore
Across the country, there has been palpable rage against the horrific rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee postgraduate doctor at the RG Kar Medical College on August 9. People are especially angered by what have been perceived as attempts by the state government to shield the culprits.
The crime has caused tremors in the Trinamool Congress ranks, too: Earlier this week, party Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar announced his decision to resign from the upper house of parliament over the horrific incident and related corruption at the hospital.
In a nutshell, the people are furious, the opposition BJP is gunning for her, INDIA bloc allies are raising questions, and there is dissent within her party. For these reasons, she was forced to hurriedly introduce the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, which was passed unanimously by the state Assembly on September 3.
Hitting the road
An expert in street and grassroots politics, Mamata was unable to make an impact on hitting the streets when the protests started soon after the horrific crime.
During a public rally on the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad’s foundation day, she accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “using” the BJP to start a fire in her state, and spoke of it spilling to other states. This remark invited severe backlash, with senior BJP leaders — including Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh — condemning her for “threatening the Northeast”.
Asserting that their pursuit of justice for the victim was not an election or political issue, BJP leaders say that the crime has shaken the conscience of the entire nation — something that even Mamata’s supporters grudgingly admit.
The Kolkata incident raised questions about the safety of women at the workplace and public spaces. People rose up in spontaneous protests and the state government was seen to be mishandling the issue, which intensified the public anger — and this the CM was unable to gauge in time. Adding to her troubles was the strong criticism directed at her government by the Supreme Court.
When she took to the streets, the people could also not relate to the CM — who holds the home minister health portfolios — leading the protests. Her resorting to the tried and tested formula of street agitation was seen as an attempt to distract people so that they would overlook the government’s failures.
Anti-incumbency
Adding to Mamata's problems is the anti-incumbency factor. Observers say even though the TMC’s seat tally rose in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the party did not perform well in urban areas. The high rate of unemployment in such areas — which account for more than 30% of the voters in the state — was said to be among the reasons.
Her worst fear at this point, then, could be the protests moving into rural regions, TMC’s strongholds and beneficiaries of welfare schemes. But she can draw some solace from the support her party enjoys among the Muslims, who constitute a sizable chunk of the electorate, and the fact that the next Assembly elections are still around 18 months away.
What next?
Her long and chequered political journey— breaking away from the Congress, single-handedly loosening the Left’s grip on the state, and holding off the BJP at the height of its popularity — proves that she has the resilience to bounce back from severe setbacks. However, it remains to be seen if she can tide over the current crisis, probably the worst she has faced in her career.
