Since its ascendance to power in West Bengal, the All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC)’s crafting and implementation of different welfare schemes, especially those that are women-centric, has remained the hallmark of the party’s politics. Of particular importance this time was the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, which provides cash assistance of ₹500 and ₹1,000, respectively, to women of general and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe categories aged 25 to 60 years. Just a few weeks before the Lok Sabha election, the amounts were enhanced to ₹1,000 and ₹1,200, respectively. This proved to be a game-changer.
The Trinamool increased its seat share and vote share this election. As Table 1 shows, this is largely due to a 10.6% increase in the vote share of women. Second, the charges of corruption levelled by the BJP proved to be an opportunity for the Trinamool to articulate Bengali regional aspirations. When the Central government allegedly stopped allocation of funds to some centrally sponsored schemes like MGNREGA due to the alleged corrupt practices of the Trinamool, the regional party took no time to label it as “BJP’s Bangla Birodhi (anti-Bengal attittude)” and called to defeat the national party in the election.
Showcasing the issue of deprivation and opposing implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, in West Bengal gave the Trinamool enough electoral mileage vis-à-vis the BJP. The significant increase in the Trinamool’s support base among Muslims may point to this (Table 1). The politics of the Trinamool comprising welfare schemes and the narrative of regional deprivation throws light on the new direction of subnational politics in India.
Jyotiprasad Chatterjee is Associate Professor at Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College and Suprio Basu is Assistant Course Director SEAD, Department of Sociology, University of Kalyani
