Amphan has gone but why Mamata Banerjee is still nervous

It was on Wednesday last week that Amphan hit West Bengal leaving a trail of devastation. People are hitting street protesting against Mamata Banerjee government. She has to face election next year.

HIGHLIGHTS

• "Sarbanash hoye galo," was what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blurted out from Amphan war room
• Mamata Banerjee had told PM Modi that she had not seen such destruction in her life
• The help from Centre appears to have made Mamata Banerjee more politically vulnerable

"Sarbanash hoye galo," was what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blurted out from Amphan war room as the cyclone battered southern districts of West Bengal on last Wednesday. It has been a week since Amphan left a trail of devastation in Bengal, but Mamata Banerjee still looks shaken.

A nervous Mamata Banerjee is an unusual sight in Indian politics. Ever since her surprise victory over CPM veteran late Somnath Chatterjee in her debut election in 1984, Mamata Banerjee has been fiercely combative. But the double disaster of Covid-19 and Cyclone Amphan has ruffled her political mast.

Sample: her comment over protests in several parts of Bengal, including Kolkata. "I know you are inconvenienced. I can apologise to you, or you can cut off my head. We are also human, we are working very hard," Mamata Banerjee told journalists seeking her response on angry people hitting the streets over inordinate delay in restoration of electricity and water supply.

Prior to Amphan, she had been ferociously responding to the Centre during the row over Covid-19 when central teams accused her government of fudging coronavirus data and hiding deaths suffered due to the pandemic.

Letter bombs were being hurled in a triangular political slugfest involving the Centre, the Bengal government and Governor Jagdeep Dhankar, who has, by the way, written a fresh letter to Mamata Banerjee asking her not to indulge in "blame game" and "politics".

But when she took an aerial survey with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assess the devastation caused by Amphan, Mamata Banerjee told him that she had not seen such destruction in her life. The Centre was quick to announce advance support of Rs 1,000 crore.

The help from Centre appears to have made Mamata Banerjee more politically vulnerable.

Till now, she has been able to deflect the blame on to the Modi government and the legacy of the 35-year Left Front rule, for everything that goes wrong in Bengal.

Even during the Covid-19 outbreak, Mamata Banerjee was able to save her political constituency, thanks to the issue getting embroiled in a Hindu-Muslim debate after the Tablighi Jamaat episode in Delhi.

Mamata Banerjee appeared to mask her government's ill preparedness, at least in the early weeks of the outbreak, under the political cover provided by Jamaat-bashing groups, including BJP leaders.

But cyclone Amphan has left her politically defenceless. She cannot blame the Centre for failing to keep the damage to the minimum or not supporting the state enough.

The weather department gave accurate information about the progress of Amphan over the Bay of Bengal and issued alerts with reliable forecasts since May 16. The National Disaster Response Force units were already on the ground days in advance.

That is, for five days before Amphan struck Bengal, the central agencies were giving all support that Bengal could have got in terms of information and resources. Yet, millions of people in Bengal were affected by Amphan. More than 85 people have died.

Power, water and communication lines are still disrupted in several areas of the Amphan-affected region, including Kolkata. People have also been protesting.

The situation is particularly bad in Kolkata, where the human crisis goes beyond deaths. Snapped power supply means diabetic people could not get their insulin dose properly. At about 20 per cent, Kolkata has one of the highest percentages of diabetic people among all metros of India.

Kolkata has the highest share of elderly population (above 60 years) among all metros. Nearly 12 per cent of resident population of Kolkata comprise senior citizens. Reports say they are still seen carrying buckets from tube wells or other people's homes where drinking water is available.

Kolkata also has a high prevalence of heart disease among the residents. They were already finding it difficult to get proper medical care due to Covid-19 outbreak. Cyclone Amphan only aggravated struggle further.

This explains why people are so angry with the local government. Mamata Banerjee may feel she is there just at the wrong time of history. She cannot blame the Modi government or the CPM, which turned into a dead horse long back in Bengal.

The constant publicity by disaster management agencies have made people more aware about what a government is ought to do in times of a cyclone or other crises. There is a well laid out code of practice for a storm of category 3 or above.

It warrants the local government to carry out evacuations, prepare for backup power, warn people making sure they are not near coasts, identify and convert strong buildings as cyclone shelters, and take measures for providing at least a week's supply of cooked food and medical supplies.

People in Bengal are complaining about the same today. Comparison with Odisha's Naveen Patnaik government is also being drawn among politically active local opinion makers. Over the last 20 years, Odisha has been able to manage cyclones more efficiently under CM Patnaik.

The Mamata Banerjee government may have made her challenge bigger by housing thousands of people rendered homeless by Cyclone Amphan with Covid-19 suspects and returning migrants from other coronavirus hotspot states who were being quarantined in the same shelters.