Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday displayed calm to ignore provocation and reached out to the non-BJP Opposition in the Assembly, appealing for a united battle against the Narendra Modi government.
The chief minister repeatedly reined in Trinamul lawmakers as they reacted aggressively to Opposition members’ criticism in their speeches, or their snide interruptions during hers.
It seemed a different Mamata had come to the House to participate in the discussion on the governor’s address. In contrast to the past, when her speeches would invariably exceed the allotted time, she finished in 53 minutes despite being given 65.
She cajoled the Opposition, asking whether she had been able to address all the concerns they had raised during the discussions since Monday. She stuck to her pre-general-election narrative and kept attacking the BJP while sparing the Congress and the Left.
“Tai boli, Mannanbhai (leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan of the Congress), Sujanda (leader of the Left legislature party Sujan Chakraborty), apnader ekta kotha boli, abar boli, amader jointly asha dorkar (That’s why I say, Mannanbhai, Sujanda — let me tell you something, and I say it again, we need to come together),” Mamata said to applause from Trinamul members.
The Opposition seemed to need a moment to recover from its surprise before the taunts and sneers began, attributing Mamata’s newfound friendliness to the recent electoral setback. Both Mannan and Chakraborty later dismissed her overtures at a joint Congress-Left news conference.
In the House, Mamata continued to stress the need for unity among the “23 parties in the national Opposition”, most of whose leaders she had brought to Calcutta before the elections to float the ultimately abortive United India Front.
“I am not asking for (poll) alliances. Who you would tie up with is your prerogative…. You (Congress and CPM) had an arrangement in 2016 (against Trinamul for the Assembly elections); what was the use?” she said.
Mamata reminded the Congress of Trinamul support in Parliament. “I keep fighting on my own, I give your party (Congress) a lot of support in Parliament. Please realise, Mannanbhai, you give us galagali (abuse) here but in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, we give your party full support. Remember that. This disparity should not continue,” she said.
The Telegraph
“To prevent the attacks on this country and its people, on the Constitution, which might be changed I fear, we, the 23 political parties in the national Opposition, must sustain our fight together.”
Trinamul sources attributed her new approach to the BJP’s rapid strides in Bengal — 18 Lok Sabha seats with leads from 121 Assembly segments — on the back of a decline in Left votes.
“She has realised that her efforts at a birodhishunyo (Opposition-free) Bengal have boomeranged, with the BJP the biggest gainer from the split in votes between us and them in a polarised political landscape,” a senior Trinamul politician said. “She knows this has to be stopped. That’s why this unusual calm and sweetness. She knew Mannan and Sujan would not respond kindly but wanted to deliver a broad message to the people.”
The difference in Mamata’s attitude was clear even before she rose to speak. Often seen on her phone or talking to cabinet colleagues during Opposition speeches, she was all ears on Wednesday and took notes while Mannan spoke.
Not once did she stop speaking or lose patience under Opposition needling. Sometimes, as they attacked her, she tried to reason with them or pacify them with a smile.
At the joint news conference Chakraborty said: “Irrespective of what happens to us in elections, there is no question of joining forces with her.”
Mannan said: “She has relentlessly tried to break the Congress’s back in Bengal. We have not forgotten that.”
The BJP mocked her “desperation”.
