States
Explained | The politics over Jharkhand’s domicile policy
Jha, Debajit, et al. ‘Prosperity or Decay? Political Stability in West Bengal’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 57, Issue No. 25, June 18, 2022
The All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) or popularly known as just the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continues its regime in West Bengal with a higher vote share in 2021 than in the 2016 Assembly elections. Debajit Jha in his article, ‘Prosperity or Decay? Political Stability in West Bengal’ draws attention to the strategies used by the party in maintaining its influence among the people. He explains how the concept of political society plays an important role in the sustenance of such power and how an intricate relationship based on inter-dependency is created to secure the party’s vote share.
The paper begins by explaining how the per capita income growth rate of West Bengal during 2011-19 (Trinamool government) not only remained lower than the growth rate of the previous decades of the Left-led regime but also declined below the national average. Looking at the sectors of agriculture, industry and service, it further explained that while there was 3.3% growth in agriculture compared to 1.6% in India, the other two sectors that grab more income and form the engines of modern economy saw a decline in growth. This implies a lack of resources to fund the welfare schemes that the State implemented during this period.
Yet, driven by agricultural growth and expenditures on social welfare schemes, the rural per capita expenditure increased while the level of poverty in the State declined sharply. Data also showed that the unemployment rate of the State in both rural and urban regions was lower than the national average. The evidence of the State’s strategy to redirect schemes for agricultural and rural development suggests how the present model of development benefitted the rural region and the agricultural sector at the cost of urban and industry/service sectors. Despite the minuscule amount being spent on schemes, the government ensured that it satisfied the needs of the rural crowd who constitute 70% of the population, forming a majority.
The success of welfare schemes depends on their effective implementation and for this, the formation of cadre organisations that distribute and deal with any grievances related to the schemes becomes extremely crucial. The role of the informal sector in the formation of what Partha Chatterjee describes as the political society becomes important to understand the process of cadre formation and people’s dependence on welfare schemes.
The political society constitutes those who depend on the incumbent political party for their everyday life. The paper focuses on the people from rural regions who have low and uncertain sources of income as a majority of them depend on agriculture for their survival. They depend on panchayats and political parties for assistance in subsidised seeds, fertilizers, farm insurance, etc. This is particularly the case when the drivers of growth do not offer many income opportunities.
During the 34 years of the Left regime in West Bengal, the political, as well as the socio-cultural aspects of society were associated with the party. Strong ideology and pro-poor policies such as the redistribution of land was an important factor in attaining the loyalty of the people and formed what was called the ‘party society’, as described by Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya in his paper, “Of Control and Factions: The Changing Party Society of Rural West Bengal”. Yet, the lack of productive investment in agriculture after re-distribution, among other reasons, caused a transition of power and control in West Bengal.
The Trinamool Congress, in the absence of such a strong ideology or political organisation or even sufficient funds for welfare schemes, had to come up with innovative strategies to maintain the political society and its popularity.
The experience of the Left regime shows how party organisations get accused when there is corruption in the implementation of welfare schemes. To avoid such problems, the Trinamool government appointed external agencies that are paid through rents or commissions to re-distribute welfare schemes. Since the funds used for the schemes are rationed, the government found ways to make sure that fees/commissions were paid by the beneficiaries of the schemes themselves.
The two instruments that have been used to extract rent are popularly known as “syndicate” and “cut money”. Evidence shows that the rent obtained is shared between the local and central leaders of the ruling political party. Syndicate is a term used for organised corruption and extortion rackets formed by a small group of unemployed youth connected to a political party, mainly controlling a geographical area and operating in the manufacturing and construction sectors of urban West Bengal. A symbiotic relationship is formed between the syndicate and the government, wherein the syndicate continues its illegal activities with government protection and the government in turn takes a share of the money that the syndicate generates as well as their muscle power to oppress opposition voters.
In the rural regions, ‘cutting money’ — the unofficial commission charged from the beneficiaries of government schemes by local leaders — ensures the funding for external agencies. The lack of proper understanding of schemes and the ‘take it or leave it’ attitude of the politicians in a State where economic opportunities are minuscule pushes people to pay for benefits and still not become completely averse to the government as external agencies are considered responsible.
Such methods have different impacts on rural and urban regions. Syndicates, due to their method of extracting money from small businessmen and investors, lead to a decline in economic activity. On the other hand, cutting money generates rent, which also implies that the more the welfare schemes, the more the rent generation. Thus to seek more rent, more government schemes and policies are passed which increases the economic development of the region.
The notion that growth in the economy leads to the growth in popularity of the ruling party is contested through the strategy used by the Trinamool government. While economic agents can have conflicting interests in an unequal society, the incumbent party prefers to serve the lower-income group to gain popularity among the majority. This may not result in true development as the focus of the State is skewed toward a specific need instead of overall growth. Further, resource mobilisation through rent-seeking encourages cadres to work for incumbent interests as their livelihoods depend on it. This results in fear-mongering and violence in the State when there is dissatisfaction among the public over favouritism, deprivation, poor governance, and a lack of transparency.
While the paper goes in-depth on the strategies used by the incumbent party to sustain its power in West Bengal with the use of political society, it does not explain its socio-cultural role which was an important aspect of the party society that helped the Left regime sustain its power for over three decades.
