Is Mamta Banerjee an eligible minister? why or why NOT????
Answers
In politics nothing is impossible and so I cannot rule out the possibility that Mamata Banerjee can become the Prime Minister someday. More unlikely candidates have made it to the post. Deve Gowda or IK Gujral were not national players before they found themselves heading the nation. Mamata can certainly stake more claim to the Prime Ministership for the simple reason that the idea is not completely unheard of. She has been a prominent member of the Congress and she has founded her own party which is currently ruling a state like West Bengal. She is at least visible. She has charisma.
However, having said that, I think it is highly unlikely in any foreseeable future. The discussion had come up before the Parliamentary elections of 2014 when leadership issues were being debated. There was a dearth of powerful opponents to the then BJP candidate, Narendra Modi. The idea was put into her head by her close coterie and she began to nurture hopes. She had at that time spoken of forming a Third or Federal Front, non-BJP and non-Congress, comprising regional parties and had sent out signals to everyone from Mulayam Singh Yadav to Jayalalitha and Mayavati. She managed to get the backing of a few respected members of society including Mahasweta Devi.
Her strength was the large number of MPs she commanded after ousting the Left in the Parliamentary elections of 2009. She felt that she had the bargaining power. In fact, she aimed at increasing the number of MPs in the 2014 elections so that she could be one of the prime candidates for the top post. It is another matter that no one responded to her call. Samajwadi Party kept giving her mixed signals and in the end proved unreliable. Mulayam went to the extent of going ahead and supporting the Presidential candidate, Manmohan Singh, whom she had opposed after making it seem that he would side with her. Even more of a letdown for her was the way that Anna Hazare had left her high and dry and didn’t turn up for mega pre-election rally that they had jointly announced in Delhi before the elections of 2014.
These incidents put an early dampner on her aspirations. But she is a clever politician and knows how to bounce back. She has not given up on the idea of Prime Ministership. She has continued to garner support with other leaders of regional parties. Kejriwal, Laloo and Akhilesh Yadav have all been invited by her at different times and shared the stage with her in public forums. She has also renewed the calls for the formation of a Front to oppose the BJP and was one of the most active politicians during the discussions of presenting a united fight to the BJP next year. She has met the Telegana chief minister too in this regard.
But what Mamata should keep in mind is that the regional leaders are all eyeing the coveted Prime Minister’s job. It will certainly not be a cakewalk for her to wrest it from say Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav in the unlikely scenario that such a front will be formed and they will be able to command enough numbers to challenge the BJP.
Mamata of course knows this. This is why her focus has been to increase her strength in Parliament. If she can win all 42 seats, that is what she wants to do.
The Panchayat elections have been an indication that the Trinamool can go to any lengths to ensure victory. It has surpassed all previous records in terms of violence. During the Left Front rule the rigging was more sophisticated. It was called “scientific rigging” and involved a number of methods. At the first stage during preparation of voter lists, cadres ensured that names of voters who were likely to vote against the Left was struck out. Next came the “booth jamming” when party workers dominated the booths for hours until voters got tired and left because how long can one stand in a queue? They also false-voted but these were usually the votes of absentees. Not that there was not intimidation and physical attacks but not to this extent. This is unbridled terror.
no she is uselesss.......