Slug Over Starts As Nandigram Readies For Battle Royal, And Mamata For Her Survival

By D N Singh Just some hours to go to the polls, Nandigram has become the compulsive destination of West Bengal for all the political parties there. And the strokes of the pendulum clock has increased the palpitation of all including the WB chief minister Mamata Banerjee who takes on enemies from outside and bigger enemies within who were her prodigies till yesterday. Media Role Under Scanner The task has become double the harder for the incumbent CM of WB as regards campaigning and its outreach through the media. All the media houses travelling all the way from Delhi and camping there in Nandigram, create an impression that, as if, they are all there to highlight the air blowing against Mamata than become the idolaters as is expected from the media in general. With a fracture in a leg, seated on a wheel chair, Mamata’s roller-coaster ride throughout the constituency is obviously fraught with the realization about a fundamental isolation facing the battery of star campaigners from the Bharatiya Janata Party for which Amit Shah is to play the slug over on Tuesday at Nandigram. Didi’s Roller Coaster Ride With 30% minority votes in the state, “Mamata has already played the cards of religious sentiments, developments and of course, playing up the emotive part of her personal isolation, wheeling through the blistering gullies of Nandigram to pulverize his friend-turned foe Subhendu Adhikari,  once for all” said Arindam Chatterjee senior journalist and analyst. Taking recourse to the old tactics of political leaders Subhendu has taken to a personalized mode of campaign, even the theatric like having lunch in the houses of his supporters. “Such tactics are unlikely to melt the mind of real voters as they may view at the bottom realities like employments and communication that could not take off during last ten years” adds Chatterjee and he goes on, “that could be a double whammy for which people can blame both Mamata and Adhikari and which may benefit the joint bandwagon of Left and the Congress”. The Dark Horse  Where the organizational ability of Meenakshi Mukherjee can come into play and it is not easy to out count the acceptability of the left. She may substantially play an impacting role in division of votes if not a win. BJP may be campaigning on front foot but, the problem is, it has not named any chief ministerial candidate.  Fine that they are depending heavily on the charisma of Narendra Modi and others but that leaves Mamata to counter a campaign built around herself on development works in Nandigram.  That leaves Nandigram as the touchstone of WB poll politics and the outcome can either console the BJP but Mamata has all the hope for ' khela habe'.   About the Author: DN Singh is a Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist. DISCLAIMER This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write up have nothing to do with the www.prameyanews.com