LOK-SABHA-ELECTION
Lok Sabha Polls: Why BJP has a chance to overtake TMC in Bengal
There is anger against the corruption by lower level TMC functionaries. In a Lok Sabha election, BJP – as the preeminent national party – is the natural beneficiary as had happened in 2019, unlike in an assembly poll where voters tend to favour a “Bengali” party
BUSINESS
North-east developments looking ominous, more Tripura-like breakthroughs needed
The new framework for Tripura’s tribals was unveiled just as a host of contentious issues are again coming to a boil in the North-east. The central government must lend a sympathetic ear to the North-east concerns about the continuing Meitei-Kuki violence, implementation of CAA, scrapping of Free Movement Regime and the border fencing plan at the Myanmar border
POLITICS
Sandeshkhali and the emerging political narrative in Bengal
BJP has seized on a potentially gamechanging line of attack against the ruling TMC by homing in on alleged atrocities committed by a local TMC functionary. Against BJP’s charge of lawlessness, minority appeasement and violence against women, TMC will lie low for the moment and later up the ante by playing the victim card against central agencies while also attempting to consolidate minorities
POLITICS
Jharkhand Political Crisis: Can Champai Soren hold the JMM together?
Hemant Soren’s choice of veteran Champai Soren as his replacement, while made under duress, could help the JMM-alliance in an election year. Champai’s elevation is a departure from the usual script of family-run parties, but BJP will fancy its chances in the upcoming elections, or even sooner
BUSINESS
If Congress-TMC talks collapse, who will it benefit in Bengal?
A Congress-Left alliance functioning as a strong third front may work in favour of TMC. In 2019, it was the drift of Left voters to the BJP that had enabled the saffron party’s strong performance
BUSINESS
A Dilemma For Bengal CPM: Who is the primary enemy?
Is it TMC, which wiped out the Left from Bengal in 2011, or is it BJP, which has pushed it to third place in the state and is the focal point of the national opposition unity efforts? Staying in the INDIA alliance with Mamata Banerjee could repel the anti-TMC votes now flowing back into the CPM kitty
INDIA
Bengal: Will opposition votes get split between BJP and Left-INC-ISP in 2024?
The ultimate beneficiary would be TMC, as was evident in the recent panchayat polls when BJP and Left-INC-ISP were locked in a fight for the second spot. In a way it is history repeating, as CPM between 2001 and 2011 had benefited from the split in the Congress in 1998. So will Bengal see a bipolar fight next year like in 2019, or a triangular contest?
BUSINESS
Bengal Panchayat Polls: A TMC sweep leaves troubling questions for BJP in its strongholds
Violence-hit polls boost Abhishek Banerjee’s stature. BJP is a clear second but hasn’t matched its 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly performance. Left-Congress-ISP alliance was a distant third, but TMC faces minority worries. Any appeasement on this score could set off Hindu resentment. Thus every party has its fair share of predicaments
BUSINESS
Bengal Panchayat Polls: Stakes high for all parties but more so for Abhishek Banerjee
Abhishek Banerjee is fronting the TMC campaign with Mamata Banerjee taking a backseat. Reining in infighting and wanton cadre violence are his major challenges. The BJP is battling leakage of old Left votes back to their parent bloc. The Left-Congress-ISF alliance is counting on Muslim voters
BUSINESS
Why are elections bloody in Bengal?
Reasons for endemic violence range from the historical – Congress and Left treating each other as class enemies, thereby taking democratic contestation to extreme levels – to economic facets like destruction of Bengal’s industry, and more recently, Trinamool’s elaborate patronage disbursal system, which the beneficiaries must sustain at all costs
BUSINESS
Bengal’s 'setting theory' and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections
West Bengal is keenly poised with less than a year for Lok Sabha polls. Signs of anti-incumbency and Muslim anger have surfaced against Mamata Banerjee. The Left-Congress front, which is the third political pole, is alleging a “Didi-Modi setting” to ease the road for BJP in 2024 and Trinamool in 2026. BJP, surprisingly, is no longer its aggressive old self in countering Trinamool, which may end up hurting it
