Due to the mutual rivalry between Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee for a decade, the state got divided into two poles, Congress and Left Front were marginalised, the battle in this election is very intense.
It was absolutely unprecedented. On March 7, President Draupadi Murmu was in West Bengal to attend a Santhal tribal event. In the past, rarely has any controversy arisen over the President’s programs. But this time the matter was different. Murmu alleged that he felt humiliated by the state government’s violation of protocols. Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately seized the issue. He did not take the name of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, but alleged that her Trinamool Congress government has “crossed all limits” and has not allowed even the President, who is, after all, a tribal woman, to be above politics.
The next day, Mamata was seen on the stage of her protest in Kolkata holding a big printout of a photograph. In this picture, President Murmu was standing in front of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani and Modi, while both Advani and Modi were sitting. Mamata, who is fondly called ‘Didi’, raised the question that who is insulting the President by keeping him standing here and sitting himself?
The mutual rivalry between Modi and Didi has been the bitterest fight in Indian politics for almost 12 years. Both are known for their strong personalities. Both present themselves as personalities who are not easy to deal with. Both seem ready to go to any extent to achieve their goals. Both of them constantly keep reinventing the rules of the game.
Modi’s supporters raise slogans, “Modi hai to mumkin hai.” He has the potential to take unexpected steps like demonetization, abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Didi is also not shy in taking surprising steps. She suddenly enters her political advisor’s office during an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid and comes out with the papers she considers important. She even reaches the Supreme Court to plead the case herself.
Didi won the first game in 2014. Modi adopted a soft stance towards Mamata in the election campaign in Bengal after she was declared the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 parliamentary elections. In the initial rallies he targeted only the Left parties and Congress. Modi called Mamata a didi who “really works very hard” for Bengal. He even suggested that if Mamata’s government in the state and Modi’s government at the Center work for Bengalis, then Bengalis will have “two laddus” in both their hands.
It seemed that Modi was trying to keep Mamata happy to keep the possibility of post-poll alliance open, so Left parties and Congress started putting pressure on Mamata to clarify her stand towards Modi. Mamata had ousted the Left Front government from power by forming an alliance with the Congress in 2011, but parted ways in 2012.
Seeing the style of Modi’s speeches in Bengal, the Left Front and Congress started reminding people, especially Muslims and secular liberal Hindus, that Mamata had sent them bouquets after Modi’s victory in the assembly elections, just a few months after the 2002 Gujarat riots. The Left Front also raised the issue of Trinamool’s old alliance with the BJP during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as Prime Minister.
Muslims in Bengal had traditionally voted for the Left and Congress only. A section of Muslims in South Bengal voted for Trinamool in the 2011 assembly elections. Trinamool was planning to expand its presence in three Muslim-majority districts of North and Central Bengal, Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur. Even in 2011, these districts were strongholds of the Left Front and Congress.
Mamta considered Modi’s soft attitude towards her as a political move which could backfire on her. In March 2014, he launched a strong attack on Modi and repeatedly described the BJP as “rioters” and Modi as “Dangaar Mukh” (face of riots).
In response to Didi’s taunts, Modi did not hide his surprise. He said, “I thought that he would be more interested in criticizing Congress and CPI(M). But now I feel that she criticizes me a hundred times a day.” After that he alleged that Mamata has broken the trust that people had reposed in her in 2011. He claimed that “Bengal needs a ‘Bade Masterji’ in New Delhi to keep its government on the right path.”
Since then, Bengal politics has remained largely bipolar due to this contest, with the Left Front and the Congress marginalised. Mamta has called Modi by many names, Hitler’s uncle, Gabbar Singh, Ravana, Duryodhan, fascist, dacoit and liar, etc. She said that if she had a government in Delhi, she would have tied a rope around Modi’s waist and sent him to jail. Expressing surprise, he asked how people who do not care for their wives will run the country. They should be given a “strong slap of democracy”.
Modi also attacked him in many ways. Called her “speed breaker didi”, who is stopping the development of Bengal. Also described as a woman whose face lights up with joy the moment she sees the new infiltrators (Bangladeshi Muslims) coming to Bengal. He said that Trinamool i.e. TMC means terror, death and corruption.
However, Modi’s strategy of mocking Mamata in the 2021 assembly elections also drew some negative reactions. At one rally after another, he repeatedly pulled something and called out “Didi…O Didi…”. At a rally, he sang, jokingly, “Didi O Didi! Hey sister, what happened? Why are you so angry?
Many critics described his tone as ‘catcalling’. West Bengal’s leading English daily The Telegraph headlined a report: “He looks like the PM, but speaks like a boy who makes statements.”
But after the defeat in the 2021 elections, Modi did not make any personal attack on Mamata by taking her name. However, he continuously targeted Mamata’s government with strong words and allegations. Mamta means affection. Referring to this meaning, Modi said that but Mamata has given only cruelty to Bengal. He accused Trinamool and the government of running jungle raj, syndicate raj and extortion rackets.
But, Mamata did not stop making personal attacks. In 2024, when Modi claimed in a television interview that he was “non-biological” and was “sent by God”, Mamata suggested that people should build a temple for him and keep him there. Didi said, “We will offer him flowers, sandalwood and bhog (prasad).”
In this election, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter lists by the Election Commission became a big controversy and the electoral battle became even more intense. Modi’s taunts at Didi for allowing rampant corruption in the administration and illegal infiltration from Bangladesh are expected to be as strong as Mamata’s attacks on Modi for weakening the federal structure and using federal agencies and constitutional bodies like the Election Commission to forcefully take over Bengal.
After all, it is their in-fighting that energizes their party workers and supporters and divides the voters of the state into two poles.
