West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is taking her fight against the Modi government to Delhi next week, where she will be joined by several Opposition leaders who claim they are standing up for the Constitution, human rights and the rule of law.
But even as she prepares to lead the charge to dethrone Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the next general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party appears to have plans of its own to wrest power from Didi and her Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. To do this, they’re not going to rely on their oft-used modus operandi – no Operation Kamals, no rath yatras, no polarisation campaigns.
Instead, it looks like they’re going to do this one by the book, and try to impose President’s Rule in the state. Moreover, this isn’t going to be like the Uttarakhand fiasco, where they shot from the hip and had their decision overturned by the high court. No, this time they’re looking to get judicial approval or at least acquiescence for their reasoning before they pull the trigger.
Why should we believe this to be the case? After all, messages are being sent to the media (see for example this piece in The Hindu) saying that President’s Rule is not on the cards, despite calls for it by BJP leaders like Rakesh Sinha and Babul Supriyo.