What Are The Key Factors That Can Help Mamata Ace The Polls?

追加: 2026-05-07

[00:00:06][music] >> First, what I would like to know from you is that you went there. What was the sense that you got? Because the exit polls which are coming out are giving a sense that Mamata is not riding quite high.

[00:00:23]Yeah, so the sense overarching sense that I got was that from Delhi it seems that it is Mamata ranged and array of outside forces.

[00:00:34]And that includes of course the BJP with which has a center and all that all the resources that the center commands at its disposal. Then the BJP also is perceived to have the election commission on its side because the election commission's decisions have constantly raised doubts on that count on its impartiality.

[00:00:54]And then also the unprecedented deployment of security forces from outside again. So so that is the contest the way it is framed from Delhi that it is Mamata fighting back against all these big forces.

[00:01:13]Going to Bengal gave me a different framing.

[00:01:19]And because in Bengal Mamata is the big force.

[00:01:24]It's not the BJP, it's not the center, it's not the security forces. It is Mamata and her network. So Mamata Banerjee continues to be extremely popular but many many voices I heard on the ground which made a distinction between her and the network that the Trinamool network which is very deeply embedded in the Bengal soil, you know, all the way down from the Chief Minister's office to the neighborhood club which is controlled by the Trinamool leader, the local leader, and which intrudes and extorts and interferes in the daily lives of citizens. So the choice there is pro-Mamata or anti-Mamata. And there there were voices of discontent. I think 15 years of incumbency has set in, yeah. Liz, what about Bharatiya Janata Party? It's Mamata versus who in West Bengal?

[00:02:30]It is Mamata versus the entire Bengal for BJP. So that's how the BJP like to project the elections in Bengal. It's like the people in Bengal are sick and tired of Mamata Banerjee and the TMC's gooda politics. And you know, it is it is so much dissatisfaction, disillusionment on the ground. People were are scared of seeing anything against Mamata because the entire villages even the it's the TMC network is you know playing havoc there. This is what the BJP wanted to tell and wanted it is the narrative the BJP has created in Bengal. And the BJP was saying the BJP initially they were bit of like hesitant to say that the party is going to make it. But the last two like few days at least you know 7 to 10 days they started saying no we are going to make it. Because the party's view initially was the people want to want for a change. There is they want parivartan but just that you know something is holding them back.

[00:03:45]Maybe you know the other narrative of like outsider or BJP is not right for the for Bengal. This kind of you know the feeling or you know that was actually holding them back. Now the BJP with its you know resources and network and this time their party like the organization you know comparatively the BJP's organization at the ground in Bengal is it's not as good as TMC's. So but this time they improved. They really put a lot of effort to improve it. So it the the leaders were exuding confidence that they will make it.

[00:04:32]You know the that fear factor, you know, that inertia like to to to go for some change, you know, to choose a party which is not known as a Bengal party to rule the state. That that inertia is already ended. So it's time it's the BJP. That's what Can I come in there? So as Liz was saying talking I remembered that one of the things that also Mamata is seen to be ranged against is the SIR. It's not just the BJP and its forces and the EC. I mean it's the SIR process which has also been very very exclusionary in West Bengal. Vijay winning kingmaker type is not ruled out yet.

[00:05:16]Yeah, [snorts] but in Bengal I would like to ask you the Union Home Minister was camping there for almost 15-20 days.

[00:05:21]Yeah. And he was making sure that he is going everywhere and speaking to people and he was also saying that in the first phase they almost got 110 seats. So when you spoke to people did you get that kind of a sense that there was this wave that the Union Home Minister was you know hinting at? Absolutely not. And when he spoke of 110 seats in the first phase you should you have to keep in mind that the first phase actually happened in the constituencies that the BJP has even earlier done well in. The 77 seats that it has come mostly from that first phase area. So that's fine if if they thought they did it they did well. That's not extraordinary. And I certainly did not see any BJP wave. I I keep saying and I've written this that to me this election in Bengal from what I heard and saw is a Mamata Banerjee election. She is the central figure. BJP is not. BJP will be a recipient of the vote if it turns away from Mamata Banerjee. I'm still saying if because you know that it is 15 years and there is a lot of goodwill for her.

[00:06:28]Yes. So it could be that at the you know when it comes to the moment of choice the people do fall back on her again.

[00:06:35]But but at the same time if that happens if she comes back I would also say that she has been put on notice because there are enough voices being raised about >> Do you think this women reservation will have any I I didn't again because this is a question that I asked again and again and I also spent time in Calcutta not and also in the villages outside but in Calcutta as well. Even within the city this was not an issue.

[00:07:04]>> [music] [music] >> How's it going? Thanks for having me.

[00:07:18]>> [applause] >> Prime Minister Modi's government is absolutely clean and I'm happy about it, proud about it.

[00:07:28]>> [music] >> Elon Musk may be the most powerful private individual in American history.

[00:07:36]Democracy is not the same as majoritarianism.

[00:07:41]What explains the cult of Yogi? It's nowhere close to Mr. Modi.

[00:07:47]I love it when people think that I'm unintelligent or like that oh she's so dumb.

[00:07:52]>> Karan, this is your surprise for the evening. No, she's always a pleasure, never a surprise.

[00:07:59]>> [music] >> We weren't born to do jobs. Jobs are a an artifact of the shorty.

[00:08:08]Can't I choose to wear this cloth?

[00:08:10]Should I be bloody judged by the color of my cloth?

[00:08:15]If if the present situation remain like this then certainly I will die in this country.

[00:08:23]Play quick rapid fire.

[00:08:24]>> Rapid fire. Rapid fire.

[00:08:25]>> Rapid fire. Could have fun with it.

[00:08:27]Kunal Kamra.

[00:08:32]>> [music] >> Why do rich Indians leave India?

[00:08:41]>> So I am neither rich nor have I left India.

[00:08:45]You have the magical ability to request both Hanuman and Sri Krishna. Who would you send to which country to fix our relationship with?

[00:08:53]>> [laughter] [music]