By Goutam Shankar
�
�Mirror, mirror on the wall/who�s the fairest of them all?� and the mirror cracks and out emerges Trinamool Congress (TMC) with a whopping tally of 211 seats followed by a grouse-laden Congress with 44 and the Badshas of 36 years till four and half years back, the Left Front with a measly tally of 32 seats. The Lotus bloomed at three ponds bettering its 2011 record by two more.
So, in West Bengal, it is the colour green that will hold sway at least for another five years through trials by fire.
Grumbling state citizens who had been subjected to�danga-fasad, crimes and criminals and syndicate sins, will once again constitute the philosophical pledge of TMC�s �ma, mati, manush��and have every right to feel happy, sad or oppressed about. Why make a fuss of it all especially when�matir manusher ma�(Mother of the children of the soil) has been overwhelmingly voted back to office? Didi has effectively proved that in spite of the sins of her Trinamool brigade, she is unstoppable, un-put-down-able!
Asking the mirror to reflect who the fairest of them all is, one must digest the fact and never excrete that all is fair in politics, be it arm or neck twisting. Whatever good is done has to be recorded and remembered and all bad deeds are to be forgotten by the living and the dead.
The TMC regime through its last four and half years has appeased most of the needs of the rural areas with bicycles, schools and colleges, roads, hospitals, goons and other socio-economic necessities to make life bearable.
In Kolkata too, parks have been beautified, underground sewage systems made more functional, power supply better streamlined and has also ensured rising nonchalance of mushrooming footpath vendors who give a damn to comforts of bovine and human beings hard-pressed to tread the pavements of busy shopping areas.
Of course, such �self employed� persons have spared the malls, at least till now until the kindly government to take oath of�May 27, thinks of a way to give them a few malls of their own. After all, such business folks too are the children of the soil and they too harbor a right to look up to the motherly Didi to find them an ounce of salvation.
Right through the pulsating wait for the election results, the exit polls conducted by the various news and noise channels, the greening of Trinamool prospects could be gauged and notwithstanding the Sarada and Narada blotches, Didi�s team triumphed with record aplomb.
Her clean and simple living had the West Bengal electorate eating out of her hands. Though many of her party candidates did not have the right image, it was her grit and determination that reflected in her statement at election meets and rallies when she said, �Don�t think you are voting for my party candidate but know that you are voting for Mamata.� The result came through booming on May 19.
A new state government will be formed. A few old guards like Madan Mitra, who any way is behind bars, will not be there to warm seats in the Assembly House. New horses for courses including the ones from the young brigade will be there to nod to Didi�s commands for the state�s betterment.
The lotus flower may or may not bloom, the Leftists may or may not pick up the sickle, but would industry honchos recast their shaken attitude towards the Bengal skyline and make one more effort to strengthen the state�s not-too-rosy economy?
Let us keep our fingers and other tools of trade crossed to better the state of this�manusher Bangla.
The views expressed are personal of the author. He can be reached at ([email protected]).