Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked Trinamul Congress leaders to get out of the “bad habits” of “VIP culture” and underscored the need to return to the grassroots.
The Bengal chief minister asked the leaders to give up the trappings of the “VIP culture” at a closed-door meeting with Trinamul MLAs and party functionaries at Nazrul Mancha here on Monday afternoon.
She assigned responsibilities to the leaders and explained the provisions of her “Didi Ke Bolo (Tell Didi)” outreach initiative for connecting better with the masses.
“The bad habits of VIP culture must be left behind, otherwise, the people won’t forgive,” a Trinamul source quoted Mamata as saying at the meeting.
“She kept stressing the need for going back to the people, meeting them more and more, apologising and making amends for mistakes made,” the source added.
The meeting was part of a slew of measures by Mamata since the general election results were declared on May 23. The BJP won 18 of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state and secured lead in 120 of 294 Assembly segments.
Internal assessments by Trinamul revealed that the leaders’ disconnect with the masses was to blame mainly for the poor show.
One of the things the Trinamul chief has been emphasising on at meetings with the leaders is a simpler, more down-to-earth lifestyle.
“Even today, she said on more than one occasion that we need to stop using beacons, except for highway journeys. Beacons cause a disconnect with the common man and its use has to be avoided wherever possible,” said a Trinamul leader.
“It’s a very bad habit of many in this party to use beacon-fitted vehicles — sometimes illegally — for travel. Even functionaries at low levels do it. The public do not take it well,” he added.
Over the past two decades, several cases on the misuse of beacons were lodged in Calcutta High Court. In all the cases, the court repeatedly asked police to strictly follow guidelines issued by the administration and take strong measures against the illegal users of beacons.
At the meeting on Monday, Mamata also reiterated her warnings against corrupt practices, internal rivalry and sidelining of loyalists.
“‘Old is always gold’, she said. ‘The adi (original or old) cannot be sacrificed at the altar of the nobyo (new), she said’,” a Trinamul source said.
