Mamata's politics has pushed even BJP to pause rally during Azan

The politics of Mamata Banerjee has gone to such extreme that even BJP president Amit Shah felt compelled to take a pause during Ajaan at a rally in Kolkata on Sunday. The act of handing over financial aid to the families of three members of the minority community on the stage was just a blind imitation of what the TMC supremo had done in the past to score some political points. [Mamata is too big for Amit Shah, says her nephew MP]

Even BJP wooing minorities now to pay Mamata back in her own coin

Is the politics of Bengal undergoing a change? The interesting part of the game is that the rules that were laid down by Banerjee are being religiously followed now by the BJP, which has fast emerged as the new Opposition in the Bengal albeit with just one seat in the assembly. And what is unique to Bengal is that the saffron party, which is generally known to be a practitioner of majority politics, is now even taking the route to woo the minorities who include frustrated and threatened supporters of the TMC.

The crumbling party functioning of TMC has hit Mamata's vote-banks

The ruling party of Bengal has been religiously trying to woo the minorities as a tradition of the Congress and Left that had ruled in the past but it somehow took the matter to such an extreme that the balance was lost somewhere and the resulting chaos engulfed all, including the party's targetted vote-bank.

TMC's growing lack of credibility as a party

The complete lack of credibility in the TMC's functioning as a party saw inner dissents imploding and allowing the BJP to manage big crowds, even with just three (two Lok Sabh and one assembly) seats in its bag.

BJP's horses-for-courses strategy

Amit Shah knows how different medicines suit different patients. And just like it changed strategies in Uttar Pradesh during the Lok Sabha election and Maharashtra and Haryana during the assembly polls, the BJP has placed itself as a political and not religious alternative in Bengal to unsettle the vote-bank that Mamata Banerjee has inherited from her predecessors. Pausing during the Azan was just a reflection of that strategic bent of mind of Shah.