Future Of West Bengal

Long stay in power made people think as if the Left Front had earned the divine right to govern the state perpetually. So is much uproar and hullaballoo over the fall of the Left regime. Many can’t reconcile to the change of regime and they feel totally upset. But it’s quite natural and healthy too in a democratic set up that the ruling party periodically yields place to the opposition to govern the state. Left leaders too accustomed for long to sit in the treasury bench feels uneasy of sitting in opposition bench after 34 years. The roles of media, to be frank, in such circumstances leave much to be desired. Media have projected the fall of the Left front govt as a larger than life issue instead of depicting that such swapping of power is quite natural and should have occurred long ago in the interest of healthy democracy as long stay in power is apt to corrupt the administration and engender inefficiency and complacency. In other words law of diminishing return gets operative in efficacy of governance .That apart, what is worse is some media openly took sides with ruling party or the opposition. Even now many print media are hitting the vanquished candidates of the ruling party below the belt or ridiculing them in some way or other. It’s not at all a welcome gesture and might affect peace and amity which are veritable need of the hour.

It’s really commendable that post-poll Mamata is much more restrained and matured than her pre-poll self. Though Mamata’s ministry has not yet taken oath, she’s behaving like a truly responsible administrator. Immediately after poll results were announced she called upon her party activists to show restraint and not to indulge in violence. She even asked them not to take out victory rallies as they might invite troubles unnecessarily. However, despite her mandate post-poll violence is continuing taking toll of lives. Admittedly, pre-poll situation was so tense, it’s difficult to rule out post election violence altogether though loss of a single life in violence is always condemnable. What’s more is in her party she’s the supreme authority, so district leaders are not supposed to have much influence on the local cadres and they could not dissuade them from violence

Mamata would perhaps ease her relation with the members of the opposition. In pre-poll scenario we’ve seen what a bitter relation prevailed between the ruling party and hers. It was her standing instruction to her party colleagues even not to share dais with members of the ruling party, let alone exchange views with them.However, govt tried to break the ice many times but failed due to her stubbornness. In fact, in no other state in our country one finds such a sour relation between the govt and the opposition. Our state had to pay a heavy price for this uniquely bad relation.Develpmental works have been the worst casualty for such sustained non-cooperation. Mamata knows if CPM plays the same role of non-cooperation and resistance at every step, her govt would find it quite difficult to fulfill the sky-high expectations of people and do justice to the enormous hope and confidence the electorate have reposed in her in case she fails to deliver goods. So she’s supposed to iron out her difference with the opposition to have their cooperation in developmental activities of the state.However,it depends on the stance and strategy of the opposion.If they decide to pay her in her own coin and take the path of confrontation then state will continue to suffer again. Let us see what happens.