Railway Budget 09-10: The politics of Mamata's Rail Budget

KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee has used the railway budget very deftly as a powerful tool to woo the tribal and minority population in West Bengal in the run- up to the 2011 assembly elections. Interestingly, both the tribals and the minorities had dumped the CPIM-led Left Front in the last Lok Sabha elections and had backed the Trinamool Congress to help Mamata win 19 of the total 42 parliamentary seats in the state.  Mamata’s latest proposal to set up a 1000 mw power venture in Adra in the Purulia district is being seen as a calculated move to send a clear signal to the over 55 lakh-strong tribal population about her intentions to deliver even more benefits if her party is voted to power in the assembly elections. Adra is in the heart of a tribal belt bordering Jharkhand and not too far from trouble-torn Lalgarh where the Buddhadeb government continues to face strong resistance from the tribal population.  "We won’t take much time to implement the railway minister’s plans to set up a power project at Adra. We will soon launch a massive campaign for this project," opposition leader in the state Assembly and Trinamool Congress MLA, Partha Chatterjee, said.  Trinamool Congress too said that with her half-a-dozen ministers of state in the Union government including 19 MPs, Mamata won’t find it too difficult to implement the project. She’ll get more than one-and-a-half years to implement the project as elections to the state assembly are likely to be held in March-April 2011.  About half a dozen West Bengal officials are camping in Lalgarh and busy hearing about tribal problems even though police action against the Maoists continues. The state government also plans to issue ration cards to the Lalgarh tribals on the spot. Such measures are being made to neutralise the tribals’ misgivings against the state government. There’s no doubt that Mamata is also aware of the Left Front government’s effort to woo the tribals and intended to counter the same.  In order to appease the minority population, Mamata has also included the students of madrasas, high madrasas and senior madrasas to obtain railway concessions. Students belonging to minority community will also enjoy concessions while using the Kolkata Metro Railway. Mamata’s move is being seen as a move to counter the Left Front government’s very recent move to set up a separate school service commission for minority community.  Mamata also intends o express her solidarity with the people of Singur and Nandigram who had played a very crucial role in her fight against the forcible land acquisition by the CPI-led government while drafting her budget. She has announced a rail connectivity project between the two apart from connecting Salboni and Jhargram via Belpahari and Lalgarh.  Mamata has announced in her budget 53 rail connectivity proposals of which 22 are in West Bengal. In fact, Mamata has attempted to implement some of her promises she made in her election manifesto for the just-concluded lok sabha polls.  For example, she had promised to develop Digha as much more attractive tourist spot and for the purpose, she has proposed to set up a rail connect between Digha and Puri via Jaleswar. Similarly the proposed railway links between Bishnupur and Mukutmanipur, Namkhana-Bakkhali, Kakdwip-Sagar-Kapilmuni temple; Chalsa-Jaldhaka and Mirik-Gangtok will certainly boost tourism in West Bengal.  Mamata has also proposed to set up a land bank, but made it very clear that she would not require to acquire land for the purpose. The railway minister who had spearheaded her agitation against the Left Front government by making the forcible land acquisition the key issue, is well aware about the fact that acquisition of land for her projects might trigger political controversy.  There is no doubt that the ruling Marxists in West Bengal will find it hard to regain their lost ground once Mamata manages to start implementing her projects in the state.