Will Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress Get New Lease Of Life Thanks To Prashant Kishor?

Glass windows, air-conditioning in full blast, and elaborate sitting arrangements — that’s not how you would expect a political party to go back to the drawing board after losing 16 seats to the BJP, a party that was almost non-existent in West Bengal even a year ago.But that’s how Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) got its basics ‘right’ with PK da aka Prashant Kishor — spelling out dos and don’ts to all the TMC district presidents, in a corporate-style meeting in Kolkata on 12 July.What started off some months ago with a TMC leader calling up a Congress beat reporter and asking for Kishor’s number, ended up with the two (Kishor and TMC) ready to tango. Mamata’s nephew and the de facto number two, Abhishek Banerjee, has been at the centre of all the meetings before and after Kishor ‘offered his services’ to the party. Kishor offered to help the ruling party in Bengal in spite of it suffering a body blow in the perception game, thanks to the BJP exploiting every wrong utterance of Mamata Banerjee.Why Mamata Needs Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC for 2021 Bengal CampaignUndoing TMC’s ‘Muslim Party’ TagBut what is Kishor’s mantra for Mamata? How will he revive the image of a party that has come to be known for its ‘appeasement’ politics? How will Kishor exploit Bengal’s altered political reality that, at least for now, seems to suit only the BJP?“We really don’t have any idea what he is up to. But he (Prashant Kishor) has definitely advised Didi (Mamata) to tone down her animated opposition for people chanting Jai Shri Ram. She has fallen silent all of a sudden. With the power he holds now, only he can do it,” a TMC Rajya Sabha MP told this journalist on condition of anonymity.Another TMC minister in the Mamata Cabinet said, requesting anonymity: “I have seen him (Prashant Kishor) once in Nabanna (the Secretariat) but haven’t attended any of his meetings. But my colleagues say, the idea of Nusrat (Jahan Jain) beginning her oath in Parliament with Assalamu Alaikum and concluding it with Vande Mataram and Jai Bangla, was his (Kishor’s) brainchild.”If both of them are to be believed, then the pattern is clear: that Kishor wants to re-brand TMC which has come to be known as a ‘Muslim party’, without disowning the Muslims that form around 28 percent of Bengal’s population, and have stood rock solid behind Mamata.How TMC’s Mahua, Mimi & Nusrat Are Smashing Heckling & PatriarchyBringing the Disillusioned Left Front to TMCBut it's a long haul and won’t happen overnight. If sources within the TMC who attended Friday’s meeting with Prashant Kishor are to be believed, his immediate concern is to arrest public anger.A TMC district chief who attended Friday’s meeting says that Kishor is convinced that the majority of those who voted for the BJP in 2019 are traditional Left supporters, who saw no future in the Left, but didn’t want to vote for TMC due to their anger against the local leadership.According to the source, Kishor wants to arrest that anger and bring it to the TMC fold. Kishor is not wrong, technically. The Left Front lost 22.21 percent vote share in Bengal this time, while the BJP gained 23.3 percent vote share.Time For RedemptionThe chunk of the BJP’s new support base in Bengal comprises traditional Left supporters who were troubled by a near zero organisation on ground, and excessive violence under Mamata 1.0.Many were allegedly killed, thousands were forced into exile outside their village (locally they are called ghor chhara) and their houses ransacked or burnt down, allegedly by TMC cadres. Left supporters haven’t forgotten that. No wonder, Mamata in a stern message to party cadres, has asked to go to the electorate and seek forgiveness.Poll strategist Prashant Kishor meets Mamata againTMC’s New Promise: ‘Yes, We Are Corrupt, But We Promise To Change’Mamata Banerjee denied the existence of corruption in Bengal for long, but ask any Bengali living in West Bengal, and they will give you graphic details of party-backed corruption, that over years has been institutionalised in the state. Forget the multi-core Saradha or Rose Valley chit fund scams. Even as basic as building a house requires shelling out ‘tax’ to the local TMC unit which is known as ‘cut money’, something that Mamata has finally accepted exists.Everything from death to marriage calls for TMC leadership to knock at your door to ask for its share of ‘tax’.Mamata’s belated and surprise acceptance may have made the state BJP happy, but it was actually to reign in the ‘Corruption Raj’. A former TMC MP and an erudite speaker, credited Kishor for this move. “How can you cure the cancer unless you accept it exists? I am glad, however belated, the party has taken corrective measure and I am grateful to Kishor for that,” he said on condition of anonymity.After Mamata ordered all party men to return the ‘cut money’ to people, some local leaders were mobbed, while some voluntarily promised to return. With 2021 almost two years away, this clean up drive can go a long way in helping TMC.What’s Cooking Inside Prashant Kishor’s Brain?A source who attended the meeting said that Kishor stressed the importance of booth-level organisation and dedicated cadres who are not corrupt. The source also added that four cadres need to be marked for all the booths across West Bengal. Kishor had also highlighted the importance of district-level social media teams to reach out, and every leader to have a Facebook account.These are classic Prashant Kishor tactics that formed the skeleton of the BJP’s 2014 general election campaign, when he worked for Narendra Modi. Of course, he later fell out with him and joined Nitish Kumar, and now he’s ready to undo the damage for Mamata Banerjee.“Let him do whatever he wishes to, but the people of Bengal know the truth of Mamata Banerjee through her repeated objections to Jai Shri Ram,” says Dilip Ghosh, the Bengal BJP chief. He is banking on the perception battle which is tilted in the BJP’s favour. And this is where Kishore will step in – to change that perception.Youth in Politics, a platform created by Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC, is mass-hiring people for the campaign in Bengal, and has approached many who have been working for the BJP in the social media space so far. Some of them were instrumental in making phrases like #BurningBengal trend on behalf of the BJP.The sudden spurt of hiring is said to be for 21 July, also known as ‘Martyrs Day’, to give a big push to TMC’s image makeover.Significance of 21 July For Mamata & An Opportunity To Flex MuscleSo far, Mamata’s face has been the central motif on the dais. Those privy to new developments suggest that the central motif on 21 July may bear a subtle nationalist flavour, without going over board. When event managers and decorators were contacted, they said that no final imprint on what will be the background of the stage on 21 July, has come to them so far. However, a section of the TMC is wary of this new motif’s ramifications, since this is uncharted territory for the party.It is a red letter day as far as the TMC is concerned.While still in the Congress fold, Mamata was leading a rally in Kolkata on 21 July 1993, when the police opened fire, killing 13 of her colleagues. Since her ascent to power, Mamata has turned tragedy into opportunity, using this day to flex muscle. If Mamata has to make a statement through a symbol, image or colour, 21 July is her best bet, with over two million plus expected to be in attendance, and millions glued to the TV sets. Will Mamata meet expectations?(Anindya Banerjee is a political journalist with more than a decade of experience. He has worked with Times Now, India Today among various news organisations. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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What is Prashant Kishor’s mantra for Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress that recently got a body blow from BJP?

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