Why Did Anna Ditch Mamta?

By Shivangi Singh

It was the ascent of the alleged ‘white’ clan of politics. The nation stood watching close-by as a docile Anna professed his adoration for Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Bannerjee’s “simplicity”. In what promised to be a slap on AAP’s face, Anna expressed serious concerns over Kejriwal’s actions and determined his interest to support ‘Didi’ as a serious Prime Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. If this was a surprising turn of events, the events on Ram Leela Maidan earlier this month redefined the phrase. As a baffled Didi addressed a relatively scarce audience, Anna turned out to be the caped crusader who gave the rally a miss in entirety and went ahead to make more headlines than Mamata herself. The media first quoted him as citing bad health as the reason for his absence from what was going to be his official entry in the major political race in the country. It was only after a few days after the event that Anna revealed that he “supports Mamata Banerjee and not TMC”. There could be many possible reasons for Anna’s radical stand. Here’s a look at some of them.

Anna Hazare is the poster boy of the RTI movement in India. Recognized as one of the most honest and simple leaders in the country, Anna has a reputation to uphold. In his interviews earlier, Anna clarified his reasons for abstaining from politics which went from politics being a dirty game to not maligning himself by aligning with negative forces. It is for this reason that Anna has never been reported supporting fellow RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and it is this reason that led to the much hyped about Anna-Kejriwal split. The nation deems Anna as incorruptible and the man is smart enough to understand that the minute he joins a political party, his whole life would be under the scanner. The media would remain no stone unturned to find a skeleton in his closet that could be manipulated to create headlines and to invite him for highly publicized interviews. Perhaps, Anna knows that what he gets from the Indian public is much more valuable than votes and that is something no politician has ever been successful in getting completely: Respect.

While the nation wondered as to why would Anna change his mind and not show up on D-Day of the proposed Anna-Didi alliance, Mamata Banerjee possibly forgot to consider the fair chance that even a person as hit with the Ram Leela Maidan public as Anna can’t always promise an encore performance.  Popular media contemplation involved the theory of uncertainty: the speculation that somewhere Anna must be unsure of TMC’s success as a national political party. This may have been caused by the fact that West Bengal and TMC itself under Didi’s rule have had their fair share of controversies, scams and drama. While the simple man admired Didi’s personal sacrifice for the development of the state, he doubted her ambitions just as he was unsure of Kejriwal’s ambitions when he first proclaimed to form the Aam Aadmi Party and if history is anything to go by, it is known that Anna doesn’t doubt without sound logic.

After days of giving it a serious thought, when Anna finally opened up to the media about his reason for his absence from Mamata’s Delhi rally, he stated that he supported Mamata Banerjee as a person and not brand Mamata as the head of the newly nationalized Trinamool Congress Party. What might have led him to make this statement is food for thought. Trinamool Congress hasn’t delivered on its promises. Add to it the additional burden of swindling and fraudulent behavior shown by some of the party members with ambitious motivations and you have a typical Indian political party. There have also been allegations against Mamata Banerjee by ex TMC members that her personal ambitions often overshadow the general consensus in the party. Anna fast realized that Didi’s show of simplicity and dedicated ‘politics for the poor’ is flaky and superficial. Her smoothly disguised ambitions give her the wolf in the skin’s clothing appearance. So, while Anna makes no qualms about admiring Banejee’s personal philosophies in life, he keeps away from sharing the stage with her due to her allegiance with her political aspirations.

Losing Anna definitely dealt a might blow to the constantly fading public presence of TMC. Given the current political scenario where each political party boasts about the number of people attending every single rally, delivering her speech to an empty arena must have broken Didi’s proud heart. What this clearly indicates is that it is too early for TMC to go national. There is much work to be done in their state and the TMC must focus on its on-ground performance.

As a proud Army daughter and a B.Tech graduate, who let go of corporate jobs in order to dedicate myself fully to the service of the society, by joining an NGO and blogging about social issues, it’s my most cherished dream to see India progress, prosper and become a developed country ASAP. I have worked extensively with online media platforms and start-ups. Read my thoughts at:http://shivangi-coolchicsmashing17.blogspot.com. Mail me at: shivangisingh1808@gmail.com