The Congress party in West Bengal is clearly in shambles. It has been in the miserable shape in the state mostly because of its internal feuds, and not because of any external political aggression. Congress has lost its popularity also because its leaders moved away from the masses over the past decades and has turned into a party of drawing room politicians. A party which once dominated the political scenario of Bengal has been left with just a few legislative members in the state assembly today.
Congress high command should act in a war footing to do away with the differences among the party leaders. The leaders should not indulge in unnecessary groupism and should stop virulent campaign against each other. It’s time for the leaders to put their heads together and to find out ways to regain their popularity they had lost some decades ago.
The gradual decline of its vote share and popularity among the minorities (namely, Muslims) has been a key factor behind the erosion of Congress’ platform in West Bengal where Muslims constitute 35% of state’s population/electorate. Some half-hearted efforts were indeed made to improve the lots of the state’s mostly backward Muslims by Congress-led state government some decades ago [?] and then by the Congress-led UPA government in the past few years. But as West Bengal’s Muslims continue to be denied their rightful share in country’s development by the country’s largest political party, they have chosen to turn away from Congress. Muslims have faced systematic discrimination in the society, government offices and businesses. The Sachar Committee findings supported what Muslims have been complaining about discrimination for decades. But even X years after the committee submitted its report to the government, the Congress-led central government has not bothered to do address the miseries Muslims have been living through.
India’s Muslims have always behaved in secular ways and have made efforts to stay with the mainstream, and have supported secular political parties dominated by non-Muslims. Muslims have always accepted the leaders of secular parties as their leaders at the cost of raising leaders from within their community, for which we do not happen to find Muslim leaders at national level. All charges by some groups portraying Muslims as communal or narrow-minded are absurd. Muslims have been mariginalised in the society simply because they face discrimination in all walks of life. If the most powerful section of the society and the government treated the Muslims in unbiased manner, the community might have been able to come out of their ghettoes long ago.
No big communal riot has taken place in West Bengal in the past 34 years. Yet Muslims’ socioeconomic condition in the state has not seen any improvement. Despite using the key Muslim support it has stayed on in power for record stretch of years, the Left Front government has not helped uplift the backward community. The Muslims are now seething in anger and are preparing to teach the Communists a lesson in next year’s state elections. Taking advantage of the situation the Trinamool Congress is targeting to come to power through next year’s elections. Some time back, for a while Muslims thought that Mamata Banerjee’s party would offer a viable alternative to them. But now they are disenchanted with this party which appears to be paying attention at nothing except grabbing the power as quickly as possible. Many Muslims who turned to Trinamool Congress last year have begun backtracking in recent months and they believe that this party would not serve the community well.
At this point Bengal Muslims have begun thinking that only Congress could offer a secular and progressive government which could make sincere efforts to reach out to them. Congress, if it sets up a well-organised network extending to Muslims living in ghettoes- in villages, town and cities, will reap a good benefit in all terms. For the Congress the situation provides a very good opportunity. If Congress leaders make sincere effort to organise themselves well and reach out to Muslims, I am sure, the community will not disappoint them. If Congress can win the Muslim heart in Bengal, Muslims have the ability to propel the party to power in the state and this support will also in part help Congress consolidate its position in central power, for many years.
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