Finally, a Mamata masterstroke. But why did it take a month?

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday walked the extra mile. She went to the protest site of the doctors in the rain and said, “The chief minister’s post isn’t a big deal. The post of manush (people) is the one that matters”. In a sign that Mamata had wriggled out of the tightest corners of her time as the CM, the protesting doctors welcomed her. She finally played her “manush (people)” masterstroke, but the question is why did it take over a month for the astute politician to play the right card?
It is now 34 days that people have been out on the streets protesting after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, one of Kolkata’s busiest medical facilities. How could a politician who came to power with padyatras and dharnas let the crisis continue for such a long time?
To begin with, Mamata had erred in diagnosing the problem. She mistook people’s anger for political plotting.
That was evident when she blamed “Bam and Ram”, the Left and the BJP, for the statewide protests, which were spontaneous and a result of years of her government’s cut-money raj, corruption and local Trinamool workers’ hooliganism.
It is also probable that Mamata was in a state of denial.
She found it difficult to believe that the “manush” of her battle cry ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’ would rebel against her. Most likely, she doesn’t realise the anger and frustration the people hold against her government, and that their patience is wearing thin.
Mistaking a people’s protest for political plotting, she lost the golden hour. Then, like Don Quixote, she started attacking the windmills.
Mamata, who is the CM, health and home minister all rolled into one, took out protest marches demanding justice for the trainee doctor in a state where her own party is in power.
After trying to project herself as the real, poor victim, she lied low in the hope that the protesting doctors would tire themselves out. But she had misjudged the energy of youth and angst of people.
Why did Mamata fail to recognise that it was a people’s agitation despite all the signs being there?
In power since 2011, Mamata has become seasoned at tackling the politics of the BJP and the CPI(M). She sees them as the usual suspects in Bengal and that is what has made her myopic.
For over two decades now, she has won each and every fight, on the street or otherwise, with the CPI (M) first, and the BJP now. As she built a tough-as-nails image, winning every battle — from Singur to Sandeshkhali — perhaps she began believing that all fights were political, and she could win them by digging in her heels. She tried doing so in this case too.
To add to that, she was also delusional that the state’s people would always owe their allegiance to her and her party, the Trinamool Congress, despite all the misgovernance and corruption.
Mistaking a people’s agitation for a political attack, Mamata tried all her gimmicks.
She tried to turn the tables unsuccessfully on the protesting doctors by blaming them for disrupting health services in the state, which resulted in the deaths of 29 people.
The last roll of the dice of her political arrogance was getting the photo of the Chief Minister waiting in an empty hall at Nabanna, the state secretariat, for the protesters.
Inviting the protesting doctors for talks and waiting, she wanted to achieve doing figuratively what she accuses Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of doing, bulldozing. Mamata had deployed a psychological bulldozer here.
The result wasn’t what she had expected. The photo of a waiting Chief Minister didn’t melt hearts, instead, it was turned into memes. There was still no public pressure building on the protesting doctors.
Then Mamata had no option but to get off the bulldozer and the high horse of the Chief Minister.
On Saturday (September 14), Mamata Banerjee, the “didi” (elder sister) for most people in West Bengal, walked to the protest site outside Swasthya Bhavan where junior doctors have been camping since September 10.
“I have come to meet you as your ‘didi’, not as the Chief Minister,” said Mamata Banerjee, bringing herself to the level of the protesting doctors.
Mamata tried to reconnect with the protesters, telling them how she knew the pain they were going through as she too had risen from the students’ movement.
She also tried to be the protesters’ partner in pain.
“It rained all night on Friday. The way you are sitting here, I am suffering. I have also not slept night after night for the last 34 days. Because if you are on the road, I also have to stay awake as a guard,” she added.
She invited the junior doctors to her Kalighat home, not the secretariat, for talks, and the protesters agreed to that. That is the house where she lived with her mother, and the symbol of Mamata, the humble human being.
Mamata’s transformation was complete. The role play would continue as the day progressed.
As she waited for the protesting doctors, the image of a lonely woman in plain saree and hawai chappal emerged. She stood at the gate of her Kalighat home in the rain for the protesters to arrive.
This wasn’t the Chief Minister, but a concerned woman waiting for young people. The picture of a worried mother standing at the door, looking for her children was complete, and conveyed.
When the doctors stood outside her house but refused to meet her unless their meeting was livestreamed, Mamata cajoled them to come in and have a cup of tea.
“We have also made arrangements for you to sit inside. Please come inside and just have a tea at least if you don’t want to talk with me,” she requested.
With this, she has added the ‘ma’ (mother) image to the ‘manush’ outreach.
It is true that she has been humbled. But it is also true that she made a course correction like a seasoned politician when her back was against the wall.
She used her time-tested “manush” masterstroke of simple, straightforward people connect. Even if the protests continue, Mamata would have made her point. She has successfully created a picture of a concerned mother being spurned by errant children.
This midterm reminder to not distance herself from her core constituency, the manush, will serve her well for the rest of the term. Only if she doesn’t forget it in a hurry, that is.