Eyeing Urban Voters, Mamata Desperate To Wash Out Corruption Taint, But Graft Blemish Seems Indelible

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee issued yet another stern warning to the legion of corrupt in the ranks of her party at a ‘Shahid Rally’ held in the heart of Kolkata on Sunday (21 July). 

Addressing the rain-drenched rally — the largest and most important in TMC’s annual calendar of events — Banerjee said that the corrupt in her party would be dealt with very strictly. 

The TMC chief asked her party colleagues to lead a simple lifestyle and “eat just rice-dal and roti,” shun greed and stay away from all types of illegal activities. 

“Stay poor and be happy with whatever you have at home,” she said, adding that she prefers to have dedicated and principled workers instead of rich persons in her party. 

Banerjee’s strict warnings to her party colleagues — a message she has been conveying at all party meetings over the past two months — were actually issued with an eye on the urban voter. 

A close analysis of the recent Lok Sabha election results revealed that although the TMC won 29 of the state’s 42 seats, the party fared poorly in many urban areas (read this). 

The BJP secured leads in a majority of wards in 60 per cent of the 125 municipalities and municipal corporations in the state. Despite the TMC running all but one of these 125 municipal bodies, it fell behind the BJP in around 40 per cent of the wards across at least half of the urban bodies in the state.

Even in the 2021 assembly elections, which the TMC swept by winning 215 of the 294 seats in the state legislature, the ruling party lagged in many wards of urban bodies within the assembly seats it won.

Banerjee, who possesses a sharp political acumen, was quick to realise that urban voters were angry with her party primarily because of the misdeeds of her corrupt party colleagues. 

Ever since the Lok Sabha election results were analysed by a small core group of party leaders, Mamata Banerjee has been telling her senior colleagues that the erosion of support from urban voters must be arrested and reversed. 

To achieve this, she has emphasised that the party must dispel the widespread perception of TMC leaders and functionaries being corrupt, high-handed, and involved in various rackets and illegal activities. 

About a month ago, on 24 June, she publicly issued stern warnings to her party colleagues at an administrative meeting in Kolkata, naming and shaming several party functionaries, including cabinet ministers. 

Mamata Banerjee correctly identified that, in addition to corruption, the civic issues in many urban areas, including Kolkata, were also contributing to disaffection among urban voters.

At the meeting on 24 June, Banerjee listed out the civic woes — uncollected garbage and poor waste management, potholed roads, non-functioning street lights, encroachment of public spaces (including sidewalks by street vendors) — that needed to be addressed immediately.

She publicly accused her party colleagues of taking bribes and allowing illegal activities, including illegal construction. She also accused them of running extortion rackets. 

Sunday's admonishments and advice from Mamata Banerjee to her party colleagues were part of her ongoing efforts to change urban voters' perceptions of her party. 

But the fact that she has had to repeatedly deliver this message to her party colleagues indicates that her warnings and urgings are not having the desired effect. 

For instance, despite setting a 10-day deadline at the June 24 meeting to clean up the civic mess in some urban areas that she identified — Kolkata, Bidhannagar (Salt Lake), Howrah and Siliguri — there has been no visible improvement. 

A drive to evict street vendors was launched with a lot of fanfare in Kolkata, but it soon fizzled out in the face of widespread protests from vendors who form an important constituency of the party. 

Similarly, garbage continues to pile up in many urban areas, including the ones she had named in the 24 June meeting. 

Furthermore, internal party reports indicate that most members have ignored her warnings against corruption. 

“Our chairperson’s reprimands and warnings to some to mend their ways are not being heeded. Extortion rackets continue and many are still collecting bribes to allow all sorts of illegal activities,” a senior TMC leader who is also a Rajya Sabha member told Swarajya. 

That’s because, say some TMC functionaries, corruption is too deep-rooted to be weeded out just through warnings and rebukes. 

“All party functionaries who occupy posts, especially ministers and those in civic bodies as well as government undertakings, are expected to contribute handsomely to the party coffers. Where will those contributions come from? Definitely not from our modest salaries or our savings. We will not liquidate our properties to contribute hefty funds to the party. Failing to make those hefty contributions to the party fund also invited displeasure,” the head of a civic body in North 24 Parganas told Swarajya. 

A former TMC leader — who left the party a few years ago after a fallout with Mamata Banerjee over some issues — told Swarajya, “Like charity, spring cleaning should also begin at home.”

By that, he meant that Mamata Banerjee should take action against the corrupt individuals who are very close to her. 

There is a widespread perception that some of Mamata Banerjee’s family members have amassed wealth and possess properties in the south Kolkata area where she stays. 

“She (Mamata Banerjee) should take action against them (her family members) first. People know how they have amassed wealth and can see them moving around in high-end SUVs, sporting expensive brands of accessories and living in palatial houses. Till she rose to prominence, they were ordinary lower middle-class people staying in very modest houses and leading simple lives. Now they are super-rich. So, she should practise what she preaches,” said the former TMC leader. 

However, Mamata Banerjee will not be able to act against her family members accused of amassing huge wealth and property. She also cannot take action against her key aides, including senior ministers, who are perceived to be corrupt and have flashy lifestyles.

Also, as the head of the civic body in North 24 Parganas said, corruption is too endemic in the party to be wiped out so easily. The party will collapse if any action is taken against the corrupt in its ranks. The party’s finances will also be crippled. 

Hence, Mamata Banerjee’s warnings and asinine advice to party colleagues to eat rice-dal and rotis and lead simple lives are only meant for public consumption.

She hopes that the urban voter will be impressed with her speeches and start believing that the party is turning over a new and clean leaf. But, as the adage goes, people are not fools, and it is impossible to fool all the people all the time. 

Also read: Urban Bengal Is Turning Away From TMC And Mamata Banerjee's Outreach Is Unlikely To Work

Why Mamata Banerjee Suddenly Realised Her Party Leaders Are Corrupt