KOLKATA: The saffron tsunami in Tripura’s red citadel seems to have posed challenges for Mamata Banerjee in neighbouring Bengal. The Tripura verdict shows that winning polls in Left bastions isn’t her monopoly anymore. Mamata isn’t new to face the BJP-RSS offensive, though.

She fought the Narendra Modi wave in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and defeated the Left Front-Congress alliance in the 2016 assembly polls. Her next test is the coming panchayat polls in the state.

In all the elections held in Bengal since 2011, BJP has improved its vote share, mainly at the cost of the Left. The Left vote share has been on a steady decline — 40.22% in 2011 assembly polls, 29% in 2014 LS elections and 25.8% in 2016 assembly polls.

BJP is, however, yet to make a dent in the Trinamool Congress vote share. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claims that the party will reverse the trend in the coming panchayat polls. “Like in Tripura, things will start changing in the next six months. Hence, Mamata Banerjee is worried. She wanted CPM to win Tripura polls. She is giving a lifeline to the Left and Congress to stop BJP in Bengal,” he says.

Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee says unlike Tripura, there is no resentment against the Bengal government. “Mamata Banerjee has carved out an alternative development model that keeps it going.”

Yet, the Left debacle in Tripura throws up challenges for Trinamool. Most important among them are Adivasi areas in the foothills of North Bengal and tribal areas in Jangalmahal and in Birbhum, Malda and South and North Dinajpur. BJP and RSS have made inroads into these areas.

Another area of concern is Hindu refugee belts where people have earlier gone with the Left against Congress but are now gravitating towards BJP. The Left’s erosion in the refugee belts spread across the state has contributed to BJP’s rise.

Also, the ‘Hindutva’ plank is getting traction among educated Bengali middle class. Mamata Banerjee seems to be aware of the challenges. She is frequenting Jangalmahal and North Bengal to see government schemes reach beneficiaries. She is desperate to fetch investments and stop migration of educated youth to other states.

