Mamata Banerjee's Campaign Tonic: Muri And Me-Time On The Treadmill

In my previous column, I tried to answer five FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) relating to the West Bengal election. This week, here are five more FAQs that I hope will enlighten readers about the gruelling poll season in our city and state.

1. How does a party sustain voter and worker interest and momentum over such a long campaign?

This is a question I get asked over and over again. The election dates were announced on March 4 and the results will be out on May 19 - that's a two-and-a-half month period. It's just too long a time for governance to come to a virtual standstill, for policy decisions to be suspended, and for an entire state to just wait and wait. With all due respects to the Election Commission (EC), I do feel this schedule, in the summer months especially, has been tough on West Bengal.

Depending on where they live, voters in West Bengal will visit polling booths on seven different days. Even Kolkata, a fairly compact city, will vote in two phases - seven seats on one day and four seats on another day. I hope we can shorten this schedule in 2021, when the next assembly election is held.

There was a time when political violence was rampant in West Bengal and had its impact on polling. Those days are well behind us. At the peak of CPI(M) authoritarianism, 76 people - most of them from parties opposed to the CPI(M) - were killed during the election. While each death is a tragedy, this year two people have been killed, both before voting actually began. The EC needs to see things in this context when it reviews the conduct of the election after May 19.

2. How does Mamata Banerjee sustain herself with non-stop campaigning and a massive 152 public meetings?

Even I have wondered where she gets her energy from! Like some senior politicians, Mamata Banerjee can manage with very little sleep. I guess the adrenaline keeps her going. She is a light eater, snacking before or after public meetings with easily available snacks such as muri (puffed rice; her favourite) and drinking lots of water to prevent dehydration.

When she's not addressing the public or talking to local party workers, she's on her phone, constantly texting and monitoring various aspects of the election campaign from strategy to the nuts and bolts of campaign schedules and key messaging.

Her one stressbuster is walking, either on the streets or on the treadmill. This is her quiet moment of contemplation, her political "me time". She doesn't have her phone with her while on the treadmill. This gives her body and mind space to recharge.

3. How is this election different from 2011?

For a start, it is different contesting as an opposition party and as an incumbent party. The messaging is very different. In 2011, the opposition to Trinamool Congress had a face, a Chief Minister back then who was a polarising figure. This time the opposition has no face, both an advantage and a challenge for us. In 2011, we were in alliance with the Congress. But the 2014 Lok Sabha election and the 2016 assembly election have seen us on our own.

In 2011, national and international media interest was very high, as Mamata Banerjee was at the cusp of unseating a Communist regime of 34 years. This year, the national media has come in bits and pieces, but it is the local media that is dominating coverage. Regrettably, a small section of it is also becoming political participants. One media house is resorting to the yellowest of yellow journalism. But leave that story for another day.

4. Who is the face of the opposition?

Who will become Leader of the Opposition on May 19? This is a tough question. The CPI(M)-Congress alliance is uneven and the Communists will win more seats, and claim the Leader of the Opposition's job. But the state CPI(M) general secretary (and Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly) needs to get elected first. When he visited his constituency on voting day recently, irate voters chased him from booth to booth, and rudely asked where he'd been for the past five years.

5. Is there an alliance between the Congress and the CPI(M)?

I know this is a question I asked last week, but I'm repeating it because the answer requires updating. On April 24, the national CPI(M) General Secretary, who had earlier denied there was an "alliance" or even an "understanding", shared the stage at an election meeting with the Bengal unit president of the Congress. Earlier, the Congress Vice-President shared a campaign platform and was seen in animated conversation with a Rajya Sabha MP from the CPI(M). And now, as I write this, Rahul Gandhi and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya have shared a stage and posed for pictures at a rally in the heart of Kolkata. So I guess the alliance is sealed and signed. But as we'll find out on May 19, it won't deliver.

(Derek O'Brien is leader, Parliamentary party Trinamool Congress (RS), and Chief National spokesperson of the party.)

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