Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Mamata's country tour

Crisis of Confidence

Why is Mamata roaming all over the country with a group of Singur residents whom she bandies around with placards around their necks proclaiming them as – victim’s relatives, when actually she should be in her own state and giving a helping hand to the increasing number of flood victims which are rising with each mm of extra rainfall? Is it that flood victims do not stir any feelings in her or is it that she is on her own trip to somehow muster power on her side and thus is on a nationwide jaunt engaging in confabulations with political heads of various shades.

Apart from the stark reality of Mamata’s total lack of sympathy or the will to do any good for the people of Bengal, her cross country movement also indicates how her so called trump card of Singur, which she has and is still trying to use has died its natural death. Singur, as of today in Bengal is a fizzled out proposition. Mamata realizes this aspect very well and is currently suffering a crisis of confidence. Her support base in her own state has eroded and that has now forced her to look for partners elsewhere. Her hunt to gather power is evident as per news report which appeared on 9th July in the Economic Times. We attach underneath the news report which is self explanatory and brings to the fore, the wishy washy person that Mamata is, and leaves one wondering - Does Mamata really care for anybody except for her own self? :


Mamata meets Jayalalithaa, fans speculation of her quitting NDA


TRINAMOOL Congress leader Mamata Banerjee’s sudden decision to meet Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa in Chennai on Sunday has fanned intense speculation about her possible entry into the newly revived Third Front.
Lately, Ms Bannerjee has been seen distancing herself from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of which till recently, she was a very vocal member. The root cause behind the differences have been over the Presidential candidature.
Ms Bannerjee had initially come out openly in support of NDA candidate Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and even campaigned on his behalf with Third Front leaders like Chandrababu Naidu. But later, she announced that she would like President A P J Abdul Kalam to be reelected.
The timing, coming as it did soon after Ms Jayalalithaa’s announcement on behalf of the Third Front in a similar vein, has raised questions about Ms Banerjee’s long-term plans of staying with the NDA.
Besides, the Trinamool leader’s decision to spurn requests from all NDA leaders wishing to meet her during her visit to Delhi last week has further lent credence to speculation that she was deliberately trying to distance herself from the NDA.
She is on her way back to Kolkata after a successful trip to Kerala, where she traveled to underscore the plight of displaced farmers in the Singur site of the Tata Motors auto project.
The Third Front, which in its new avatar has been christened the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), has several leaders who are close to Ms Bannerjee including Mr. Chandrababu Naidu and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. She has been maintaining close contact with these leaders.
Ironically, she had till early June been trying to convince these leaders to vote for the NDA candidate in the Presidential elections. However, there may be one hitch for Ms Bannerjee. In its earlier form, the Third Front had the active support of the CPM-led Left Front. If that happens again in the future, Mamata may find it difficult to justify her presence in it.
It has never been easy to predict Mamata’s moves. For the moment, she refuses to show her cards. She termed her meeting with Jayalalithaa as merely an attempt to highlight the plight of displaced farmers in West Bengal. She told journalists that she planned to spread the word about her ongoing crusade against the Left Front government in West Bengal to all like-minded political parties.
However, she played safe and refrained from commenting on whether this was the beginning of the end of her journey with the BJP-led NDA.

Dear Mamata, we would wish, that instead of parading across the country, you would rather join hands with the ruling Govt. in your state and help to empower people of your own state or if you have better plans of empowering the people of Bengal in which Industrialization does not figure, then lets see you share that with the people. Let’s see some nation building ideas from you and your party. We will wait.