Trinamool Congress has retained power in West Bengal with a massive mandate in the recent Assembly elections. Promising to develop the state, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has taken charge as the Chief Minister of the state for the second consecutive term.
Her close aide and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien spoke to CNN-News18 and outlined his party's plans. Derek claimed his party won because it went to the electorate with a positive agenda.
Excerpts of the interview:
CNN-News18: Why do you think people voted for you the way they have?
Derek O'Brien: We went to people with two very positive agenda – a) development, b) peace and harmony. Both these agenda were personified in our leader Mamata Banerjee and people accepted her.
CNN-News18: You talk about peace and harmony and yet there is so much political violence in the state, both during and after the elections.
Derek O'Brien: Your observation about political violence in Bengal is not true. People keep making Bengal a villain all the time. There is nothing like that. Bengal is singled out in a cynical manner. Odd incidents are magnified. But there's one thing you must note. Law and order in the state was in the hands on the Election Commission during the polls and not with us. We did not transfer 68 civil servants and police officers during the polls. So with all due respect to the Commission, the answer lies somewhere else.
CNN-News18: The opposition campaigns against you were unrelenting. You were charged with jeopardising democracy, resorting to large scale corruption and spreading violence to name a few. Why do you think that had little effect on the voters?
Derek O'Brien: The opposition parties never had any positive campaign to take to the people. Their cynicism and negativity were rejected by the people. They approached people with a double negative: stop development and defeat Mamata. Both were rejected by the people outright. Contrary to that negativity, we were positive in campaigns, energy and in our messaging.
CNN-News18: Now that you have an overwhelming mandate from the people of the state, what would be Mamata Banerjee's focus areas in her second term?
Derek O'Brien: Our Chief Minister has made it clear on the first day in her office that our focus areas are three-fold. First, we want to concentrate on the youth of Bengal, people who are below the age of 30. We want to provide them more education opportunities, want them to stay in Bengal and participate in the development process of the state. Secondly, we are focussed on creating more jobs for the people of the state and thirdly, we want to improve the quality of life through our social sector schemes by widening the net of the existing schemes and implementing newer ideas. Of course, our priority for the social sector would be people with weak economic background.
CNN-News18: Do you have any targets for employment opportunities?
Derek O'Brien: No, we haven't set targets. But we have done some serious number crunching in this aspect. Our Chief Minister will make announcements in due time.
CNN-News18: Have you given a thought about improving the political culture of West Bengal because with the present level of animosity between the ruling party and its opposition, it seems, much remain to be achieved? Since you are in power, the responsibility is more on you.
Derek O'Brien: I don’t quite agree with that cynical observation of yours. But yes, there is scope for improvement. You have to understand that we inherited a state where 55,000 of our workers were killed by the CPM. But we will do whatever it takes to change the ground reality as well as the perception about us. We need to work hard to change the perception even though that perception may not always be the reality.
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