May 05, 2026 13:16 pm IST

Opinion | Self-Inflicted Wounds? How Mamata Became The Architect Of Her Own Collapse

For a leader who built her identity on being the "sole protector" of Bengali sub-nationalism and the provider of a sprawling welfare state, the transition to the Opposition benches will be devastating.

Rasheed Kidwai Rasheed Kidwai Columnist

Rasheed Kidwai Columnist

May 4 has turned out to be much more than just another counting day in Bengal. It will go down as the day when a 15-year political order imploded in full public view. By mid-afternoon, it became clear that the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule in West Bengal was coming to an end as news of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) electoral successes came pouring in from across the state. Out of a total of 294 seats in the assembly, the BJP has bagged a whopping 206, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been reduced to a mere 81, a bitter loss of 133 against its 2021 sweep. The rest of the tally is divided among the CPI(M), the Congress and others, whose outcome could not tilt the scale.

It was a six-to-seven per cent swing of votes in its favour that pulled the BJP from 77 seats in 2021 to where it is today, all thanks to a campaign where it not only capitalised on the TMC's mistakes but also steadily pushed its own goals.

RG Kar, Nirbhaya, And How Governments Fall

For the Trinamool, the main talking points in its election campaign were its welfare schemes that focused on women's empowerment, education, and rural development. Key initiatives included the flagship Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, which offers monthly financial aid to women, and other programmes such as Kanyashree, Swasthya Sathi, and Karmashree, targeting social security. 

The BJP, on the other hand, came with the promise of extending to Bengal its schemes from other states, and also raising the amount distributed through them. Many existing beneficiaries appear to have been convinced that even if a new government came in, the ongoing schemes would not be stopped.

Despite women's issues making up much of the core of Mamata Banerjee's policymaking - Ma, Mati, Manush was its clarion call this election  - doubts about women's security in the state could not be dispelled. Incidents like the rape and killing of a young doctor on duty at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College in 2024 cast a long shadow over the effectiveness of the state government. One could almost draw a parallel between RG Kar and the Nirbhaya incidents, both of which eventually snowballed politically, and, coupled with........

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