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ELECTIONS '96

'Mamata is the best among a dismal lot'

Tara Shankar Sahay in Calcutta

Muslims of Calcutta are shocked by the Trinamul Congress's recent alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, true -- but educated members of the community still prefer to vote for the party.

The credit for this, inarguably, goes to party president Mamata Banerjee. Or, to quote the aforementioned members, to the 'proven track record' of the said lady.

"Because of her guts and gumption," says educated Muslims, "Banerjee can deliver the goods, despite the BJP's rhetoric."

N Hassan is a pediatrician who has his clinic in Raja Bazar, a Muslim-dominated locality. He has closely watched Banerjee since she appeared on the political sweepstakes way back in 1984. Her baptism by fire in West Bengal's turbulent political arena and her subsequent 'fight for the rights of Muslim community' have convinced Dr Hassan that 'a true leader has finally appeared'.

"Whether it is community welfare of security considerations, Mamata is the only politician who comes to hear our woes," he says, "She has been going from house to house to find about our grievances. I was really touched when she raised the TADA issue in Parliament. Muslim MPs picked up the issue only after she did."

But what, he is asked, about Banerjee's recent alliance with the BJP, a party which was talking about keeping the mandir issue alive and bringing a Uniform Civil Code?

"If you see it in perspective, Mamata has said she does not identify with the BJP's policies, especially those on the mandir issue and the Uniform Civil Code. Her party's alliance with the BJP is just an electoral convenience. I don't think she will have anything more to do with the BJP.''

Would Dr Hassan vote for her?

''I certainly would," he replies, "She is the best among a dismal lot."

Mehmooda Begum, who owns a prosperous lamp-shade shop at the busy Dharatolla street in the heart of the city, is a graduate from the Lady Brabourne college.

"You know," she says in fluent English, "Mamata means business. During the Calcutta blasts (in 1992), one of my business rivals had instigated some thugs to burn my shop. I knew that going to the police would be useless. I went to Mamatadi. She helped me and consoled me. When I disclosed my business rival's name, that fellow was mauled by Mamatadi's men. They all worship her. From that day on, I know she is concerned about our community."

Mehmooda, too, dismisses the TC alliance with the BJP as an election convenience. "The Trinamul has just been born, it needs to make its presence felt. That is why Mamatadi has tied up with the BJP; there is nothing much in it. Mamatadi is rabidly anti-communal," she says.

The coffee house at College street in north Calcutta used to be the hub of radical student activities in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Here, theories of Marx and Lenin were digested with innumerable cups of invigorating coffee. Today, a group of Muslim students occupying three tables are discussing the possibility of a hung Parliament. Ashiq Jam, who is the most talkative, said he and his friends all preferred the TC because 'Mamata ought to be given a chance'.

"We agree with her policies," he says, adding that the alliance with the BJP was nothing but an electoral convenience.

At the Gariahat crossing, a busy intersection housing numerous shops of all descriptions in South Calcutta from where Banerjee is contesting, a group of young men and women are canvassing for the party. 'Vote for the TC, it will bring in prosperity', their slogan said.

The person at the microphone is Mohammed Yasmin, a mathematics student in Calcutta university. But isn't he wary about the TC-BJP alliance? Yasmin grinned. "That alliance will disappear once the TC makes a grand showing," he contends.

Elections '98

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