Mamata Banerjee has pulled her party; the Trinamool Congress out of the Congress led UPA government headed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Mamata has obviously read her cards well—the manner in which the Congress led UPA government is falling by the way side there was no way that Mamata would have benefited (in terms of vote) with the popularity of the present UPA dispensation at an all time low. So the sooner she pulled out, the better it was for her and the party. The decision to leave the UPA is also an indication that Mamata wants early election. The Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav will also be tempted to go for early polls. Both the TC and SP are riding on the back of massive wins in recent State Assembly elections. As such they could benefit the most from having early elections. As for the main Opposition party the BJP, ever since the 2G scam, it has become restless to return to power. It has not allowed Parliament to function properly citing one scam after the other.
As for the decision of the TC to withdraw support, Mamata and team were behaving more like the main opposition and it was perhaps the right thing for them to leave and do what they seem to be good at doing—agitation. In fact as rightly pointed out by someone in the Congress the other day, Mamata Banerjee should “evolve from a street fighter to a statesman…from an agitator to an administrator”. All of us are aware of the Mamata’s long political struggle against the communist in West Bengal where she was finally able to dethrone them from decades of power. Perhaps to be in combat mode all the time is a political style that she has developed but one that she needs to now leave behind if she wants to run a government. Having now won election and running her own government, Mamata must realize that she is not the CM of the Trinamool workers alone but for the whole of West Bengal. She will also have to move away from her pet themes and be ready to shoulder national responsibility that will require taking even bold and unpopular decisions. To be trusted with political power in Delhi, Mamata must transform herself from the ferocious Bengal tigress to a more moderate kind of national statesman.
Now coming to the popular metaphor of the Aam Aadmi, what we would have noticed is that irrespective of political parties and their ideologies, everyone seems to be so concerned for the welfare of the so called Aam Aadmi. This is in the lips of everyone. But then what are the political parties or the so called agitating leaders actually doing for the Aam Aadmi. And who exactly is this Aam Aadmi that everyone seems to be so concerned about. Sometimes it just seems that political parties and politicians take us all for a big ride. They can make a mountain of a molehill. Politics should not only be about confrontation but also resolution. Political parties compete with each other and they seem to be fighting all the time to get people’s attention and to find favour or public sympathy. But this is not the expectation of the Aam Aadmi. In fact they will want parties to work together for the welfare of the country and people. But parties are hell-bent on populism. Everything is targeted at the voters, which is perhaps what the Aam Aadmi is all about after all. But how can politicians be so insensitive to dehumanize people as mere vote banks. A new paradigm of politics has to emerge—one that goes beyond mere jockeying for votes.
