Mahmood, Seed., And Bhattacharya, Soham (2025), ‘The roots of a populist regime: examining the Trinamool Congress in Western Bengala’, Studies in Indian politics, 1-18, Lokniti, center for the study of development societies.
TThe election of the 2011 Assembly was a decisive moment in the Western Bengal policy. He saw the end of the left front era and the emergence of the Trinamool Congress, which since then has emerged as the dominant party in the state, with victories in the 2016 and 2021 surveys.
Politologists have deployed multiple records to explain political transformation under the government of trinamool. Some have invoked the “subalternization of politics”, clientelism, the search for rentals, well -being and identity, while others have given credit to the head of the Mamata Banerjee party, “whose popularity was diverted to local leaders, centralized authority, cultural scope and government populism” was a strong departure of the “policy of the central organization of the CPI (m).” “While all these were factors, also present were characteristic of classical populism, such as” charismatic and personalist leadership “and a” division between people and the elite with Banerjee such as the champion of marginalized and direct direct communication with people. “
The authors of this study argue that these perspectives, although illuminating, do not explain the changes in the organizational structure and the leadership of trinamool since 2011. This document contributes to the debate on the changing nature of the Bengal policy on two levels: first, it exceeds the composition of the class caste of the trinamool support base; Secondly, hypothesis that “government policies are formed by the interests of the dominant support bases,” analyzes the budgetary assignments of the Trinamool government to “explore the material interests addressed by the regime beyond well -being.”
Politics beyond well -being
The dominant understanding of the Trinamool governance approach is that, in the absence of economic growth, it seeks “desirable reelection results” through the delivery of well -being. Its welfare delivery model is “to depend on a local pattern” in contrast to the “parties based on parties promoted by the left front”. In practical terms, this has been made that the expected beneficiaries of a well -being scheme had to pay some percentage of their rights “to local trinamool leaders as a condition to access the benefits.” This has led to a growing acceptance of corruption such as “the” necessary evil “or transaction rates.” However, in the absence of a solid political organization, an incentive structure of “sharing rent” has been fundamental for Trinamool to retain party workers.
At the same time, there are also other changes after the collapse of the “partnership society” that characterized the left front era, marked by the hegemony of the Bhadralok over the social and cultural environment. For example, a question that arises is that it is a “leadership after Bhadralok” has promoted to the helm of Bengal’s policy in the trinamool era. If so, is this leadership subaltern? Or is it composed of other sections that have tried to appropriate the Bhadralok values?
To answer these questions, the authors analyze the socioeconomic profile of the nominated candidates (not only chosen) to dispute elections in the state.
Trusting the data of the database of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), analyze four characteristics of each candidate: caste, self -informed occupation, level of education and declared assets. They have created Dataset of All the candidates from the Four Leading Political Formations in the State-Left Front (CPI-CPIM-RSP-AIFB), TrinamoRe Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (BJP) and congerdow the polls in 2011, and 20211, and 2021, and 2021, and 2021, and 2021, and 2021 2021 and 2021, and 2021 and 2021. Exploratory analysis of state budgets for the years 2016-21.
CAST PROFILE FROM 2011 TO 2021
To map the changing nature of political leadership in the state, the authors begin by summarizing the political land under the left front regime, a leadership “largely composed of the socio -economic strata of middle class imbuedes of Ctain Certural and Social”. Althegh, the left front emerged at the back of the support of the poor and marginal sections of society, the leadership remained in the hands of the urban and rural middle class.
Of course, this began to change after liberalization, in the last years of the left front regime, when “stagnation in the agricultural economy sector and the rise of the private sector led to the proliferation of commercial activities and trade” between the Ital Sections. Some academics have attributed the nochacteristic policy of the left front changes to changes in the character of the middle class, a change that has continued to develop after 2011, under the trinamool regime as well.
This article seeks an empirical basis for thesis changes in the changing profile of trinamool candidates over time. To begin with, document a constant increase in the representation of non -forest castes and SC/ST among the MLA of Trinamool. The candidates who were “Hindu-Bajo Casta-Dalit-Adivasi increased for the [Trinamool] From 19.4% in 2011 to 22.8% in 2016, “already more than 25% in the 2021 assembly elections. As the document points out,” this is different from the political trajectory of Western Bengal, dominated by Hindu castes. “
The representation of the lower castes, including SC/ST, increased from 20% in 2011 to 25% in 2021, which caused some as a “subalterization” or politics. But that argument folds since the Hindu non -brahminas front castes also abruptly increase their representation (from 18% in 2011 to 24% in 2021).
Occupation, education and wealth
When pointing out that the caste is not the only delay record, the document processes to consider other metrics: the occupation and education of trinamool candidates. The number of candidates who self -lied their occupation as “business” increased substantially in time of 25% (56 of 227 candidates) in 2011 to 32.7% in 2021 (95 of 290). Another category that witnessed an acute peak was “social and political workers” (an indicator of full -time politicians), which increased from 16% in 2011 to almost 30% in 2021.
The increase in these two categories is accompanied by a decrease in candidates in the category of ‘professionals/services’ employed in formal public or private sectors. Interestingly, the increase in the percentage of candidates for business or political/social work was observed in all categories of castes. The authors offer three possible explanations for this: one, a greater political statement between a superior and a half emerging class within the backlocked castes through the Trinamool Congress; Two, games that prefer candidates with deeper pockets; And three, the political parties “become roads for the creation of wealth and the search for rents that are represented through business.”
The next analysis level analyzes the declared educational level and the richness of the candidates. The participation of the ‘graduates and higher ”among the Trinamool candidates has increased from 48% in 2011 to 63% in 2021, while the average annual assets of the trinamool candidates grew at a rate or 8.8% in nominal terms since 2011. 8 its average to 2016.8 to 2016. ₹ 2.85 crore in 2021.
Although the left front candidates had the slightest active on average, the trinamool and the BJP had the greatest increase in rich candidates. The authors go through what these findings: Trinamool and BJP may be nominating the richest candidates due to the increase in the cost of the elections, or the richest people may be gravitating these two dominant parties. Secondly, “political parties seem to have become platforms for the accumulation of wealth and the search for rent.” This Explanation Also Dovetails with the Expanding Body of Literature that Highlights The “Interconness of Criminal Networks, Politicalians, Bureaucrats and Businesses, Revaling How Political Funding, Clientism, The Black Economy and Patronage Intersaly and Patronage Intersaly Patronage Intersaly and Patronage Intersaly and Patronage Intersaly and Patronage Intersaly and Patronage Intersaly and Patronage Intersaly and Intersalia and Sponsorship Intersalias and intersalted sponsors and intersalted sponsors and intersalted sponsorships and sponsorships between formations and sponsorships.
After comparing the changes in candidate profiles between the parties and over time (2011 to 2021), the authors observe that it was “different for trinamool, in opposition to other parts, it is the decreasing part of the medium -term professional withers. From this, they infer that the Trinamool congress has become” the place for a class, that is educated and rich, rich, rich, rich in the future of The future and the striker in the future in the future and the businessman of business and businesses in the future. This group is different from the traditional middle class, which was used in professionals and services.
What state budgets reveal
To find out if this new commercial class is “dominant and capable of influencing politics”, the authors incorporate another dimension in their study: an analysis of state budget documents between 2016 and 2021.
As expected, they find that most of the income spending goes to the social sector (43%), given the impulse of trinamool towards the direct transfers of beneficiaries and a development model “directed by scheme”. But most importantly, an analysis of capital spending revealed that 31% entered the economic sector, while only 22% went to the social sector. A breakdown of this 31%showed that manufacturing received only 6%, agriculture and ally obtained 11%, while 26%went to transport, followed by irrigation and flood control (22.7%) and the rural development program and special areas (21.7%).
The channeling of capital expenditure to sectors such as transport and rural development, the document observes: “It is a mechanism to create an indirect social social capital”, and this is biased “towards the sectors where trinamool elites are interested.” There, these investments benefit society, “they also function as indirect support for sectors such as real estate, wholesale and retail trade, tourism and transport industries dominated by non -corporate commercial elites.”
The document concludes that trinamool, by combining marginal benefits to the poor with indirect sponsorship of the “non -hegemonic commercial class”, has found an effective means to consolidate political and economic power.
Published – April 17, 2025 08:30 am isth
