Mamta Banerjee's political wilderness ends, but how far can she go?

Many had almost written her off for the debacle at both national and state levels. Some had even written the political epitaph of Mamta Banerjee. But rather paradoxically, she has largely weathered the storm and finally staged a comeback at the power base of the Indian government. She has been inducted as a central minister again much to the dismay of her critics. This marks the end of a kind of political wilderness and is being seen as shot in the arms of the lady politician who was fighting for existence after defeat of her party in the last state assembly polls to arch-rival leftists. This has cheered her supporters and admirers but has also raised a question whether the mercurial politician from West Bengal has been restored by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the same importance that she enjoyed earlier in the federal government. Many see her elevation more as a kind of consolation than the real significance as she carried more clout and weight in the multi-party rainbow coalition government of NDA before as a railway minister than her induction this time again as a federal minister.

Mamta is familiar in Bangladesh because the political map of neighbour India and more particularly adjacent West Bengal is a matter of interest in this country for obvious reasons. In that context, Mamta's phenomenal rise in Indian political scene from relative obscurity a few years ago took many by surprise. She was not much a factor in the Congress but shot into prominence when parted ways with the mainstream party in the West Bengal leading a faction that relegated the main Congress to third position in the state politics after the Left front and Mamta's newly emerged "Trinamul Congress" meaning a grassroots level Congress. Many veterans of the Congress like former chief minister S.S. Ray, former senior central ministers A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury and Pranab Kumar Mukherjee or for that matter relatively younger and onetime important youth Congress leader Priya Ranjan Das Munshi lost importance in the West Bengal's Congress politics and in the process it was Mamta's small party and not the Congress that dreamt to capture power in the state from the leftists at one stage.

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But it was not to be, as the leftists maintained a strong grip in the state despite allegations of sorts on governance during their 23-year uninterrupted rule. The now nonagenarian CPM leader Jyoti Basu remained at the helm for long in ruling West Bengal and his voluntary retirement from power but not politics brought another able CPM leader Bhuddadev Bhattacharya as his successor as chief minister. The leftist gave a relatively honest governance. Mamta could make little dent in the leftist bastion even by forging alliance with her previous nemesis Congress. Her party fell much short of expectation in the last assembly polls and cut a sorry figure that put her future at great risk in the West Bengal politics.

Mamta had earlier burned her boat by quitting the Vajpayee ministry over a number of issues including defence minister George Fernandes alleged links with the much-talked defence purchase scam unearthed by "tehelka dot.com". Later her distance with the ruling NDA widened as she differed sharply with railway minister Nitish Kumar, who succeeded her in railway ministry, over shifting of some key railway offices in West Bengal. She had also protested the increase of the diesel prices by the federal government even though her party is a partner of the ruling NDA. There was a talk of her quitting the NDA but she did not go for this, understandably for the reason that would further alienate her from the political mainstream. Mamta remained patient despite her occasional out burst against NDA while there was no let up in her anti-left tirade. May be her patience paid dividends and she has finally been taken back as a federal minister.

Despite her staging a come back to power, Mamta Banerjee's credibility seems to have suffered in recent times. Her uncompromising image suffered as she was apparently angry with the NDA but never severed ties. Her secular credentials were also in tatters because of alignment with the BJP, widely seen as a communal force despite existence of liberals like prime minister Vajpayee. Mamta also faced mini revolt within the "Trinamul" as her absolute ascendancy in the organisation was no longer intact and she also returned to her earlier hostility with the main Congress following failure of their alliance in the state assembly polls. Mamta's electoral success in West Bengal remained largely in the urban areas.

Nevertheless, Mamta Banerjee's induction to the federal government is a success for the lady politician whose party is not much a force because its eight MPs in the Lokshaba bear little critical importance for the ruling NDA. But Mamta as a person and leader cannot possibly be ignored as she still enjoys considerable clout and Vajpayee had to take note of this. However, she was not given important portfolios which she preferred like the railway. So Mamta Banerjee is back in power but with reduced importance. This marks an end of her bad patch but has not restored her to earlier enviable position in the government. However, she seems content with this as it appears difficult that Mamta can proceed too far now.

Zaglul A Chowdhury is a senior journalist.