The momentum was with Mamata Banerjee after the Trinamool Congress’s spectacular performance in the Assembly election three years ago. But the Lok Sabha election was a different challenge, as the Trinamool Congress was fighting in Bengal against a national party in a national election. After the talks with the INDIA bloc on seat sharing fell through, Trinamool was in a limbo without being organically involved with a national coalition.
West Bengal Lok Sabha election results: Highlights
Although Banerjee repeatedly insisted that she would support the INDIA bloc from the outside, the fact that she was taking on the Congress and the Left in Bengal gave the impression that she was ploughing a lonely furrow.
Yet, her faith in the people proved the pollsters wrong, turning what was predicted to be an election of BJP dominance into that of her own, as the TMC went on to win/lead 29 seats in the Lok Sabha election 2024.
What perhaps spearheaded TMC's effort to keep the BJP at bay are the women-centric schemes that ensured a large number of women voter turnout. The schemes were aimed at empowering women. The Kanyashree Prakalpa, launched in 2013, for economically disadvantaged girls aged between 13 and 18 to ensure children are not married off before 18. After winning the Assembly election in 2021 Mamata launched the most popular Lakshmir Bhandar, providing the women - aged between 25-60 - with a direct transfer of ₹1000 a month. So a family with three or four women in an economically backward family earns ₹3000 to 4000 a month. This earning benefits the whole family. Women in the reserved categories get ₹1200 a month each. In fact, just before this election the remuneration was increased from ₹500 and ₹1000 respectively.
There is Sabuhshree for newborn to spread environmental awareness and Swasthya Sathi, a health cover with smart cards with a cover of ₹5 lakhs per annum. Both were launched in 2016.
The impact of these financial assistance programmes was such that the voters ignored allegations of corruption and violence to vote for the TMC. In Basirhat constituency, where Sandeshkhali segment was in the vortex of a controversy with allegations of sexual harrasment and land grab by TMC functionaries, the Basirhat BJP candidate and alleged victim of sexual assault Rekha Patra was trailing the TMC candidate, SK Nurul Islam by about eight lakh votes.
Despite several searches, interrogations and allegations of corruption, the Diamond Harbour TMC candidate and Mamata Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee won the seat by over seven lakh votes. TMC candidate and most vociferous former MP Mohua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha, won Krishnanagar seat again by over six lakh votes.
The TMC turned the election into a referendum on the Mamata government and the welfare schemes and created an impression that the BJP wanted to stop welfare measures. As part of this propaganda, the Trinamool pointed to the withholding of funds for MGNREGS over allegations of irregularities. The BJP counter that it would only increase payouts for the welfare schemes could not blunt the Trinamool campaign.
The down-to-earth campaign style of Mamata Banerjee, and her choice of candidates, even when they were outsiders, all appealed to the people’s sense of identity and empowerment. The victories were hard-fought and well-deserved.
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