West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is attempting to steady herself both politically and economically by wooing foreign investors to fast-track the state’s development in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
And the urgency in the Trinamool Congress supremo’s drive to consolidate her position stems from her conviction – which she has expressed publicly – that the Narendra Modi government is going to advance the parliamentary polls to December from April-May next year to gain a strategic advantage over the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.
On September 12, Banerjee left for Spain via UAE in search of capital for generating jobs in three key sectors. During her 11-day-long trip, she is scheduled to hold meetings with NRI businessmen in Dubai before heading for Madrid and Barcelona where her officials have already done considerable legwork, according to reports. She has also roped in the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for their domain expertise.
After returning from Europe, Banerjee will host the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), the state’s yearly flagship programme for attracting domestic and overseas investments, on November 21-22, underlining her sharp focus on the economy along with politics ahead of parliamentary polls.
The Bengali Card Returns
Just before she flew out of the country, Banerjee made a series of deft political moves to give her Trinamool Congress a head start electorally. Playing on the state’s distinct identity and tapping into Bengali sentiments, she announced a new statehood day and a new state anthem.
The CM piloted a resolution last week in the legislative assembly declaring the first day of the Bengali calendar, Poila Baisakh, the statehood day, or Bangla Dibas, and Rabindranath Tagore’s song, Banglar Mati Banglar Jol, as the state anthem.
Importantly, earlier this year, the Centre had unilaterally declared June 20 as the state’s foundation day, commemorating Bengal’s partition into West Bengal and East Pakistan in 1947 which came into effect from August 15 that year. It was observed with great gusto in the Raj Bhavan by Governor CV Ananda Bose who as the Centre’s constitutional representative keeps crossing swords with the CM.
Banerjee condemned the Centre’s choice saying it was dictated by the BJP’s Hindutva agenda as June 20 is associated with Hindu-Muslim violence and bloodshed that marked the division of Bengal. And to reverse the Centre’s imposition, Banerjee chose Polia Baisakh as West Bengal’s statehood or foundation day after many rounds of public consultations, and ultimately got an assembly resolution passed legitimising it.
Banerjee’s pushback against the BJP is on the back of Bengal’s cultural-linguistic identity and liberalism-secularism traditions and all these elements are reflected in the selection of statehood day and the state anthem. In the 2021 assembly elections, Banerjee had trounced the BJP by painting it as a party of outsiders, or “bohiratogo”. Because the strategy paid off, she now seems to be picking up from where she had left in order to fortify herself.
A Morale-Boosting Bypoll Victory
In between the assertive assembly resolutions and the overseas trip, Banerjee got a fillip through the Dhupguri assembly bypoll victory, necessitated by the death of the then sitting BJP MLA. The BJP fielded the deceased legislator’s wife but the Trinamool Congress snatched the seat from the BJP, its principal competitor.
The bypoll victory, despite corruption cases and financial scams plaguing her party and government, has done wonders for Banerjee’s morale in the run-up to parliamentary polls, whether they are held in December or April-May.
Another source of great satisfaction is that she didn’t campaign at all in Dhupguri, which means that the TMC party machinery is in excellent shape and delivering results. Moreover, she can leverage the unexpectedly poor performance of the Left-Congress alliance candidate in Dhupguri to strike good bargains in seat-sharing talks in West Bengal among the I.N.D.I.A bloc constituents.
Eyeing Investment, And Political Gains
Banerjee is eyeing overseas investments in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) given their capacity to generate jobs. She specifically wants Spain’s tourism, textiles and automotive industries to come to West Bengal as her primary target is employment generation for reviving the economy through small and medium industries.
Bengal is setting up textiles hubs which are capable of meeting Spain’s apparel manufacturing requirements. On Thursday, Banerjee posted on X that the Spanish multinational retail clothing chain giant Zara will partner with private entities to start manufacturing in West Bengal. She claimed that talks are also on for a polyurethane factory for which the state government is offering 100 acres of concessional land. In Dubai, meetings were set up with senior officials of chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing, health care and energy sectors.
Significantly, Banerjee is adept at playing the victim card to evoke sympathy which psephologists say does translate into votes. Before setting off for Spain and UAE, Banerjee complained that she was going abroad after five years because the Centre has been deliberately denying her permission to travel overseas.
But now that the Centre has greenlighted her foreign trip for reasons it knows best, she appears determined to make the most of it whether the Centre likes it or not.
SNM Abdi is an independent journalist specialising in India’s foreign policy and domestic politics. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication
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