Don't be surprised if you see Mamata Banerjee ally with Narendra Modi in time to come

It was a week of huge surprises. After the grand show of Opposition unity in Karnataka, it was evident that PM Narendra Modi and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee would not be comfortable in each other’s company. But what one witnessed later, at Santiniketan, belied all apprehensions. The bonhomie on stage and on the sidelines showed an entirely different equation between the two leaders.

Banerjee received Modi, greeted him with an uttariya and yellow flowers. Modi, who was standing afar with party leaders from Bengal, walked several steps forward when he saw Banerjee ready to greet him. There was slush and mud on the helipad, and Modi gestured to Banerjee to watch her step.

And, while inaugurating Bangladesh Bhavan at Santiniketan, Modi asked Banerjee to come and join him and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina for a photo opportunity when photographers focussed on the two PMs unveiling the plaque. Banerjee, too, helped Modi come in the picture frame when Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi came in between and blocked the Prime Minister. With a slight nudge, she made Tripathi shift a little so that they all could be seen clearly.

However, just a day or two ago, Banerjee had blasted Modi for fuel price, and for holding back on Deshikottam awards just because one of her party intellectuals was on the list. Even the day before Modi set foot on Bengal, Banerjee was his strongest critic. The tension was palpable in the air as flags of two political parties kept fluttering in Shantiniketan.

A smiling Banerjee was towering over the city, while the BJP arranged a team of leaders and truckloads of supporters to Shantiniketan to cheer for their heavyweight leader. People were expecting a showdown, literally a face-off, but what actually happened was that Modi and Banerjee met like friends, not as foes.

Political pundits were talking of political courtesy and compulsion of a regional satrap, but what was clearly amiss was animosity between the two. It was unbelievable that just two days ago, Banerjee had ganged up with all the Opposition leaders against PM Modi.

Now, with their recent bonhomie, the Left parties got yet another opportunity to back their premonition of a Modi-Didi understanding. In fact, a few weeks ago, Banerjee had attended an event to celebrate Gandhiji’s 150th birth centenary, which was chaired by Modi. And then when Modi had strong words to say against the atrocities of the ruling party in the panchayat polls, Banerjee refrained from countering the PM personally. Instead, she blamed the state BJP leaders for misinforming him.

So what is going between the two? Is it shadow boxing? In the last six months or so, Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress did not participate in the major political issues the UPA took to embarrass the government on the floor of Parliament. Neither was it a signatory to the chief justice of India’s impeachment motion nor did it participate in the no-confidence motion, though Banerjee flexed her muscles against the NDA and Modi in political rallies and on social media.

“It is nothing but a strategy to polarise the vote-bank and help the BJP and her party get maximum number of seats based on religious division,” said CPI(M) state leader Rabin Deb. “If she has been serious on her intent, many of her leaders would have been picked up by the CBI,” added the same leader.

Although BJP national leader Kailash Vijayvargiya has thundered in the wake of panchayat polls that many state ministers would soon be in jail, it was nothing more than a hollow threat. There has been a perceivable lull on CBI and ED investigations for close to a month. Summons are not being sent and no political person is being hauled up.

The BJP is also not prepared to antagonise Banerjee and give her a chance to be serious about any issues against Modi. With the NDA looking to lose many seats in 2019 general elections, the BJP is scouting for new allies, or may we say friends-in-guise-of-foes, to keep its ship sailing.

The idea of a Federal Front, or an alternative platform against the NDA that is independent of the UPA, is nothing but giving more power, energy and strength to the saffron brigade. The more the division of anti-incumbency votes, the better it is for the incumbent.

The picture is confusing. The lines of friends and foes are blurred. BSP chief Mayawati has already spelled out the fear that she expects some kind of raw deal from the Samajwadi Party in the event of a mahagathbandhan.

The Trinamool Congress has floated a "one-is-to-one" formula, which is unacceptable to the Congress. Permutation and combination are going on, and amid this foggy environment what emerges clear are pictures of two faces with cheek-to-cheek grins, with no grouse and grudge.

(Courtesy of Mail Today)

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