Book Review
How politics is Bengal is changing in recent times
The Bengal Conundrum: The Rise of the BJP and the Future of the TMC
Author: Sambit pal
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Price: 799/-
Review by: Dr. Jyoti Prakash Mahapatra
As
West Bengal prepares to go for polls in the next few months, The Bengal Conundrum: The Rise of the BJP and
the Future of the TMC is a curtain-raiser for those who want
to understand the dynamics of the regional politics. Documenting the
contemporary political history, senior journalist Sambit Pal explains what led
to the sudden rise of the saffron camp in this Eastern Indian state. The book
critically evaluates Mamata Banerjee's tenure as West Bengal CM, her politics
and organizational structure, the reasons behind the Left's decline — how all
of them created a space for BJP to grow. The author also highlights how RSS-BJP
combined rejuvenated the Right-wing Hindutva politics and its organization to
pose a threat to the TMC. However, the book concludes the Mamata Banerjee of
January 2021 is not the same devasted leader of June 2019, immediately after the
Lok Sabha elections in which BJP won 18 out of 42 seats. There is a detailed
discussion on her bid to remake herself. This is a definitive book on how the
rise of the BJP has changed Bengal politics, considered to be the citadel of
the Left, in the last decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment