Monday, May 18, 2009
Mamata Banerjee
The Times of India eventually, possibly somewhat reluctantly, gives the good lady some rather doubtful praise. "KOLKATA: Cheap cotton saree wrapped clumsily, chappals flapping, hysterical pitch, and eyes smouldering in chronic rage, Mamata Banerjee punches above her weight. She has finally kayoed the Mighty Marxists.
She had joined battle as a mauled David. Her Trinamool party's Lok Sabha tally was down to just one, and her Assembly strength stripped to a mere 35, Didi had nothing to lose. She played the wild card -a high-stakes gamble on Singur and Nandigram -and won. Having arm-twisted the CPM into offering a compromise in Singur, she had with typical cussedness stonewalled the gesture.But she refused to blink despite the charges of her sabotaging West Bengal's big chance of industrial salvation. She had shrewdly read the public's anti-Left mood. She went for the jugular.
A high-pitched, no-compromise posture on Singur might have put off urban voters, but Mamata knew that, outside city limits, politics was bare-knuckled. She whipped the land-acquisition fear into a frenzy. It was a primeval insecurity guaranteed to make every farmer rise in revolt. She may have driven away the people's car, but she has roared up in style.
She carefully kept up her homespun image, refusing to move out of her single-storey, ramshackle Kalighat house. Losses haven't tamed her aggression, or her unpredictability. Instead it has reaffirmed her mantra: if you get an inch, make sure you grab a foot. Mamata has finally humbled the Left Front. She doesn't botch it up, she could well be the rallying point of all those wanting to bring down Bengal's Red fortress."
IMO: Thanks largely to Mamata Banerjee, the Indian stock market rose by 10% today. Ratan Tata once said of poor Didi (and Modi) "there is a good M and a bad M." As I said at the time, he got them the wrong way round. As someone who has favored Didi as possibly even eventual Prime Minister for a long time, I think that now we seem to be rid of Lalu Prasad Yadav (the poor man's Pappu Yadav) Didi may have the difficult railway job. If Didi can handle the railways well - something near impossible in many people's view - the idea that she can walk on water or even obtain the Ganpathy milk miracle seems almost believable. Well lets see if she does as well as hoped. On that one I am not sure though she is a very experienced politician.
She had joined battle as a mauled David. Her Trinamool party's Lok Sabha tally was down to just one, and her Assembly strength stripped to a mere 35, Didi had nothing to lose. She played the wild card -a high-stakes gamble on Singur and Nandigram -and won. Having arm-twisted the CPM into offering a compromise in Singur, she had with typical cussedness stonewalled the gesture.But she refused to blink despite the charges of her sabotaging West Bengal's big chance of industrial salvation. She had shrewdly read the public's anti-Left mood. She went for the jugular.
A high-pitched, no-compromise posture on Singur might have put off urban voters, but Mamata knew that, outside city limits, politics was bare-knuckled. She whipped the land-acquisition fear into a frenzy. It was a primeval insecurity guaranteed to make every farmer rise in revolt. She may have driven away the people's car, but she has roared up in style.
She carefully kept up her homespun image, refusing to move out of her single-storey, ramshackle Kalighat house. Losses haven't tamed her aggression, or her unpredictability. Instead it has reaffirmed her mantra: if you get an inch, make sure you grab a foot. Mamata has finally humbled the Left Front. She doesn't botch it up, she could well be the rallying point of all those wanting to bring down Bengal's Red fortress."
IMO: Thanks largely to Mamata Banerjee, the Indian stock market rose by 10% today. Ratan Tata once said of poor Didi (and Modi) "there is a good M and a bad M." As I said at the time, he got them the wrong way round. As someone who has favored Didi as possibly even eventual Prime Minister for a long time, I think that now we seem to be rid of Lalu Prasad Yadav (the poor man's Pappu Yadav) Didi may have the difficult railway job. If Didi can handle the railways well - something near impossible in many people's view - the idea that she can walk on water or even obtain the Ganpathy milk miracle seems almost believable. Well lets see if she does as well as hoped. On that one I am not sure though she is a very experienced politician.
# posted by uv : 6:00 AM
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