Winds Of Change

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the one's we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

These words were spoken by Barack Obama during his campaign speech.

Miles away from there, how these words now seem true. We have ushered in a change. After over 30 years of seeing the color 'red', there is a new color now, 'green', and quite a refreshing color too. (for the Red’s it must be color of envy) From 1 to 26, by every means is a humongous achievement. From cities to towns and villages about 60% of the vote share has been cornered by TMC and Congress alliance. The Trinamool now will have to live up to the people’s expectations.

The Left’s arrogance did them in. Years of undisputed rule have made them absolutely arrogant and bullies. They believed they could get away with absolutely anything. And then Nandigram happened. The one piece of paper put up by Laxman Seth, the ex MP from Tamluk, made people landless overnight. When people resisted, sent in the cadres to silence them. When the cadres failed, they sent in the police. Their thinking has gone so corrupted that the government itself waged a war with its own people without realizing, that the actual power is in the hands of the citizens. The insensitive leftists started blundering one after another. Singur was the final nail. The writing became clear then.

For years West Bengal has suffered for want of an opposition party. The story was different this time around. There were so many reasons across the state to vote against the left. The marginal farmers who feared the loss of their only piece of sustainable income, the countless unemployed youth wasting their lives doing menial jobs, the old time congress loyalists, the total anti left voters, urban electorate who are fed up with the leftists and their idiosyncrasies’, it was just mathematically unequal. The blunders of Karat & Co in first withdrawing support on the nuclear issue, without realizing the people’s desires and then expelling Somnath Chatterjee, created an all India hatred for the lefts.

It’s said everything happens at the right time and place. It’s happened to Mamata now. People find in her an alternative and use this opportunity to teach the lefts a lesson they will never forget. She has already become very aware of the enormous responsibility, trust and faith people have put in her. It’s more difficult to live up to their expectations now than ever. The next years till the assembly elections will be her test. How she matures and gains the confidence of the electorate will be her litmus test till judgment day. If she can build upon her success, it will usher in a greater change in 2011.

Jai Ho!