Mamata Banerjee lost the assembly election yesterday. The West Bengal Assembly elections saw a major upset. The BJP performed resoundingly, winning 206 seats and shattering the dreams of Mamata Banerjee of becoming Chief Minister for a fourth term. Whereas TMC has won only 80 seats. Moreover, she lost the Bhabanipur seat by 15105 votes to Suvendu Adhikari.
This is the second time Suvendu Adhikari has defeated Mamata Banerjee. He had previously defeated her in the 2021 assembly elections from Nandigram. The Bhabanipur assembly seat saw a close contest between Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari, but the BJP candidate ultimately emerged victorious. Trends in between the counting showed Mamata Banerjee was holding a lead, leading by nearly 19,000 votes. As the counting of votes progressed, this lead decreased, and ultimately Suvendu Adhikari won by about 15 thousand votes.
Reasons for the defeat of Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur
Several reasons are being considered for the defeat of Mamata Banerjee in Bhawanipur. According to political analysts, the biggest factor was Bhawanipur’s complex demographics. The constituency has approximately 42% Bengali Hindu voters, 34% non-Bengali Hindu voters, and approximately 25% Muslim voters. This time, both the non-Bengali community and the Bengali Hindu vote shifted in favour of the BJP, changing the equation.
According to analysts, the impact of the RG Kar Medical College rape-murder case and Sandeshkhali case on her image on women’s safety, the SIR process and scrutiny of voters, the demographic structure of Bhawanipur, and the widespread anti-incumbency wave against the TMC could also be reasons for Mamata Banerjee’s defeat.
BJP’s strategy to defeat Mamata Banerjee
Making Bhawanipur a prestige battle, the BJP fielded its biggest heavyweight leader and the one who defeated Mamata in 2021, Suvendu Adhikari. BJP adopted the Delhi strategy in Bengal. BJP believed that if Suvendu Adhikari was fielded against Mamata, she would be limited and her influence on other TMC candidates would also reduce. Along with this, full advantage was taken of strong management at the booth level, polarisation of non-Muslim votes and the image of the Suvendu Adhikari. The biggest factor in the BJP’s victory was its work at the grassroots level.
Mamata had once asked who is this Amit Shah?
A rally was held in Dharmatala, Kolkata, in December 2014. Amit Shah made a statement on that stage that is now in the news again. Mamata Banerjee once asked, “Who is this Amit Shah?” Shah replied from the stage at a rally, “I am a small BJP worker and have come to uproot the TMC from Bengal.” At the time, this seemed like a mere political statement to many. But now, 12 years later, that statement appears to be becoming a reality.
The BJP has ended the TMC’s 15-year rule and is poised to come to power in Bengal for the first time. This turnaround in West Bengal politics has upended many long-standing equations. The Bharatiya Janata Party has breached the strong fort of the Trinamool Congress in the state. This victory for the BJP didn’t come as a surprise; it was the result of years of hard work and long waits. There was a time when even mentioning the BJP’s name in Bengal was difficult. The party’s presence was extremely limited. Due to this, the BJP was unable to make a significant impact in the elections. However, after PM Modi came to power in 2014, the situation changed. A related incident is emerging as a defeat of Mamata Banerjee.
