Search the Internet          Tips

Jubilation for Left, isolation for Mamata

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

Though the poll results for all assembly seats were yet to be made official on Sunday afternoon, the mood in the camps of both the ruling Left Front and the Trinamul Congress clearly suggested the former's victory in West Bengal.

While the LF leaders had begun celebrating their coming back to power, the certain defeat had thrown Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee into the pool of dejection, prompting the firebrand lady to lock herself in her house.

Banerjee, who had described this year's assembly election as a 'now or never' battle, locked herself inside her Kalighat residence since morning. Scribes wishing to meet her were turned back by her lieutenants.

At noon, groups of Trinamul workers had begun smearing abir on each other as word spread that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had lost in Jadavpur. The celebration, however, was short-lived, for obvious reasons. Embarrassed Trinamul leaders were seen rebuking the workers and asking them to leave the party office premises.

Around the same time, Trinamul general secretary Madan Mitra was giving his own spin on the emerging results. "The results are corroborative of the fact that the ruling party has suppressed the wishes of the Bengali electorate, who wanted a change this time around," he said. "This is indeed unfortunate. The people of West Bengal wanted to see the end of Marxist rule, but thanks to large-scale rigging by the ruling party, they have recaptured power," Mitra told rediff.com

At the other end of the political spectrum, CPI-M cadres went berserk at the party's state headquarters in Alimuddin Street, the celebrations beginning afresh as the loudspeaker blared forth each new result.

The jubilation reached a crescendo when the news was flashed that Mohammad Salim, the party's candidate in Entally, had defeated Trinamul heavyweight Sultan Ahmed by over 2,000 votes.

"We had lost all hopes of Salimbhai's victory, after Sultan masterminded a brutal attack on him and his brother on election day," a worker said, explaining the mass fervour. "Even if he had won by one vote, we would have considered it nothing less than a great victory for him."

Meanwhile, within the party headquarters, Bhattacharya along with CPI-M state secretary Anil Biswas and LF spokesman Biman Bose spent time monitoring poll telecasts on various channels. Bhattacharya emerged around 1430 IST, flashed a V sign at the celebrating party cadres, resisted importunities that he join in the victory dance, and drove away.

Leader of the CPI-M parliamentary party Somnath Chatterjee told the assembled media that there was no reason for surprise at the result. "We all knew that the Left Front would come back to power with a comfortable majority," Chatterjee said. "Our rivals had resorted to a well-planned campaign of misinformation against us. Clearly, the people of Bengal have given them a fitting reply."

A section of party workers reacted violently to the presence of journalists from certain vernacular television channels. Their grouse apparently was that in their view, it was these channels that were responsible for spreading misinformation about the LF government.

Senior party leaders intervened to ensure that the journalists were allowed to depart unharmed.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report