In the upcoming set of elections in India, where West Bengal is going to see the electoral battle between TMC and BJP, there is an idea which is shared among people across different levels and across parties and among the general population.

The TMC might have replaced the Left-front in West Bengal, in 2011, after the latter’s 34 years-rule, but majority of problems left by the Left have not been solved. Apart from this, the ground-level workers and cadres of TMC are perceived totally differently from the high-command in TMC, especially Mamata Banerjee.

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The ubiquitous nature of the corrupt cadres who are in the TMC-boat just because it is the ruling party is an open secret. A district Vice-President in Jhargram stated that ground-level people in TMC have in fact taken money, but since Didi (CM-Mamata Banerjee) has promised to take actions, all of these would not matter.

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All local leaders like the district vice-president of TMC in Jhargram accepted a fact that it is in fact Mamata Banerjee herself who is the candidate in the 294 seats in the upcoming assembly election, and because of this, the local leaders & the grey-scale of their credentials would actually not matter.

This position about the all-pervasiveness of Didi’s influence in the state polity is shared among the general people, the local TMC-workers, and the leaders and cadres of other parties as well.

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The newbie party, Indian secular front founded by the Pirzada of the Furfura sharif has got many new supporters, who feeel that TMC has not done anything for the Muslim community in the state.The ISF is contesting this election in an electoral tie-up with the Left-Congress alliance. One such new supporter of ISF allows for a higher moral ground for Mamata Banerjee, saying that she cannot be blamed.  The interesting part about the “TMC vs others” story in Bengal is that Mamata is mostly immune from the ire that people and other leaders have against the TMC-leaders and party-workers. The anti-incumbency wave is mostly sparing Mamata for the misdeeds carried out by the TMC-cadres, most of whom have jumped from the Left front after the landmark victory of TMC in 2011. Almost all including the opposition leaders are condemning the party but leaving Didi out of the criticism circle.

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Whether it is the work in the NREGA scheme in West Bengal, or the expansion of TMC cadres after the 2011 victory, or the post-Amphan recovery work, the TMC, and its workers have been criticized for multiple counts of misdeeds and irregularities. But, Mamata has largely been kept out of the blame-game except for the vocal critics in the BJP, which is trying to gain entry into Bengal politics.

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Hence, despite the numerous defections from the TMC into the BJP, this assembly election, which is one among the five main elections in India this year, is actually a fight of 294 Mamatas against 294 others who do not have an unified voice or even a face. (It would be false to assume that Modi is the face of the 294 opposing candidates.) It remains to be seen how public perception of Mamata Banerjee boils down to the numbers which would get declared on May 02 after the conclusion of the election.