On the last Thursday of May, a week after the general election results, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a confession in public.

“Till today,” she said, “I have not allowed Trinamool Congress [TMC] to run the trade unions properly so that industry can function…Now I will strengthen the unions.” She referred to her welfare and conditional cash transfer schemes, four dozen in number, and made a similar argument, admitting that she did not dedicate enough time to her organisation, founded in 1998.

“I may have done little more than I should have done [in running the government]. I will now devote more time to the party.” Precisely, all of the TMC's problems stem from a severe weakening of the organisation, which– without a doubt– is Ms. Banerjee’s doing. She assumed that a powerful political organisation is detrimental to delivery of services. Unanimously her associates argue that she made a mistake.

A district magistrate (DM), who is close to the Chief Minister, told The Hindu that weakening the party to enhance the government’s performance “could be a mistake.”

“The CPI(M) channelised services through local committees or gram panchayats [GPs], underscoring the party’s relevance in the daily life. In the TMC’s case, the administration replaced the party. Today, a person does not need to make rounds of party offices to avail conditional cash transfer [and other] schemes. He can meet government officials who coordinate the disbursal,” the DM said. This massively improved the service delivery, indicated impartial international agencies like the United Nations, but weakened the party.

Mamtaz Begum, a dedicated TMC activist, explained how and why efficient delivery of freebies weakened the party.

“The benefits are not delivered by the GP members who are affiliated to the party and marshal the elections, but by adhikariks [government officials] who do not organise elections for the party,” said Ms Begum, the TMC chief of Nayarhat GP in Cooch Behar district. The 49-year-old activist argued that when a government official hands over benefits, voters tend to feel that it is a government project and they have “an unconditioned right” to receive it.

“How would a party benefit from that,” she said. Besides, “extending all facilities to all indiscriminately was a mistake.”

“Everyone feels that even if they do not vote [for the TMC] they would be able to avail the benefits, and make a beeline for the BDO’s office instead of coming to the party office…voters know small-time neighbourhood leaders are powerless,” Ms Begum argued. She refused to accept that the fear of corruption compelled Ms. Banerjee to implement schemes through officials. “If you cook fish at home, cats will come. Will you stop cooking fish?”, she asked.

Other TMC officials complained that the Chief Minister “meets government officials often but not the party workers.”

Three problems

With the weakening of the organisation, three problems surfaced. One, the party management’s links with the grass roots weakened; they stopped receiving relevant information and controls wavered. As a result, the party, at the village or ward level, deeply became lumpen. The case of a political science professor in south Kolkata illustrates the point.

A week before the election, a TMC councillor publicly “threatened” the professor in Jadavpur area, right outside his residence, for appearing in television talk shows. He told the professor, formerly with the CPI(M), that he should stop criticising the TMC on television channels as “he knows nothing about Bengal” and his family’s votes– 13 altogether– should go to the TMC. In the end, all the votes, barring the professor’s, went to the BJP, only to deepen the TMC’s crisis. “If they can threaten in Kolkata, imagine what they must have done in villages,” the professor said.

Secondly, at the macro level, the TMC filed cases after cases against CPI(M) activists, even allegedly killing many, creating a vacuum, which is filled up by the BJP.

According to a recent CPI(M) data, between May 2011 and May 2019, as many as 213 Left Front supporters were killed. While the claim cannot be independently verified, a TMC MP told The Hindu– even before the elections– that “decimation” of the CPI(M) is what the TMC fears in the 2019 election.

He was proved correct. The CPI(M)’s vote reduced from 22.96% [2014] to 6.30% and the BJP filled the space, scoring 23% more since 2014. Thirdly, the TMC’s use of brute force, being uncertain of its organisational might, in the 2018 panchayat polls severely harmed the party.

Politics breeding communalism

Among other significant damage– owing to lack of organisational feedback– are Ms Banerjee’s blind faith on her nephew and MP, Abhisekh Banerjee, who created a parallel organisation and growth of communal politics. Both the factors can be seen at play in the Falta block in South 24 Paraganas district.

A local school teacher explained that the “monstrosity” of TMC leader Zahangir Khan, known for his proximity to Mr. Banerjee, explains how the TMC’s “rootless politics” is breeding communalism.

“No one can question Zahangir in Falta; he controls everything and manipulates elections. This has severely annoyed the locals,” the teacher said.

“It helped the BJP as they silently campaigned suggesting that Muslims are consolidating under Zahangir and thus Hindus should consolidate under the BJP. While it is true that one can now resist the TMC if one joins the BJP, it is also a linear narrative that only Hindus have suffered. Muslims too are equally persecuted by Zahangir and his men,” the teacher said.

Question is if Ms. Banerjee knew about men like Zahangir or Jadavpur’s councillor without a structured organisational information gathering network.

However, despite very strong organisation and command structure, the TMC would still have been in trouble as the kind of money that the BJP spent is unprecedented, feel her colleagues.

“This BJP is different; they are changing the rules of the game and it would not be justified to single out the Chief Minister as she is still posting some resistance. Others have disappeared,” the TMC MP said.