– Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

As west bengal prepares for the high-stakes legislative assembly election of April-May, the state has transformed into a volatile political theatre. Desperate for a maiden victory in West Bengal (pop.102 million), the BJP which has ruled at the Centre since 2014, is engaged in a fierce slugfest with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) — now in its third term in office in Kolkata — allegedly utilising the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list to erode TMC’s voter base. However TMC, determined to secure a fourth consecutive term in office, is countering with new policy initiatives and strategic budget allocations.

Recently, a triad of developments have bolstered the ruling TMC’s narrative as a champion of education. On February 27, a Supreme Court settlement in State of West Bengal vs. Dr. Sanat Kumar Ghosh (2024), ended a long-standing deadlock by appointing vice chancellors to 33 of the state’s 36 universities. This is a major win for TMC as the apex court imposed a check on the Governor’s assumed power to appoint VCs and also signaled TMC’s commitment to upgrade the state’s higher education system.

Since 2023, an administrative deadlock between the TMC government and Governor C.V. Ananda Bose had left Bengal’s universities leaderless, crippling higher education by triggering a domino effect of delayed examinations and NAAC accreditations, stalled research projects, and a breakdown in institutional planning. The settlement, through a 2023 Committee headed by former Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, marks restoration of administrative stability to the state’s higher ed institutions hosting 2.5 million students.

Moreover in the state’s Rs.4.06 lakh crore interim budget presented on February 5, finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya allocated Rs.51,530 crore to the education sector, signaling a pivot from institution building to direct-to-youth investment. In the budget, the finance minister announced a ‘Banglar Yuva Sathi’ allowance of Rs.1,500 per month to “educated unemployed”, to shield them from economic uncertainty and prevent outward migration. This was complemented by a ‘Taruner Swapno’ (dream of youth) scheme, under which class XI students are provided Rs.10,000 to purchase digital devices, and sustaining the Kanyashree programme of 2018 under which girl children clearing class X exams receive a grant of Rs.30,000 deposited in their bank accounts, to continue their education.

However, within Kolkata’s academic coffee shops, dominant opinion is that TMC’s education initiatives won’t repair previous damage. Because of repeated bungling and corruption in the education sector, West Bengal records the nation’s highest secondary education dropout rate — 18.75 percent (according to a Union education ministry release dated January 7, 2025).

Therefore, there is widespread scepticism whether the state government’s provisions in Budget 2026-27 to prevent the “brain drain” by providing modest student doles and bank deposits will have desired outcomes. The dominant view is that cash transfers and subsidies cannot substitute jobs creation and upgradation of elite colleges. Academics apprehend creation of a generation that is financially supported but professionally underutilised.

Meanwhile to surpass the TMC education development strategy, the BJP has presented its ‘Sankalp Patra’ strategy, devised by economist Ashok Lahiri. It’s Viksit Bengal narrative promises structural economic reform and aggressive funding. To neutralise the TMC’s core female support, the BJP pledges to double social allowances, specifically raising its Lakshmir Bhandar promise to Rs.3,000. Simultaneously, the party is courting youth and students by contrasting the TMC’s Rs.1,500 monthly ‘survival stipend’ (Yuva Sathi scheme) with a promise of ‘permanent careers’ built on massive central infrastructure projects, including the Durgapur-Dankuni industrial corridor and the Dankuni-Surat freight corridor.

Be that as it may, a ‘crisis of the educated’ persists in Bengal. While overall unemployment is low, graduate unemployment at 20 percent exceeds the national average of 13.8 percent, according to National Sample Survey Office 2024 data. Therefore it’s unsurprising that TMC’s Banglar Yuva Sathi allowance of Rs.1,500 for unemployed graduates has received 8.1 million applicants.

“To retain power, the TMC must pivot from survival welfare to aspirational growth. It needs to address the 20 percent graduate unemployment problem by offering the 8.1 million Yuva Sathi applicants career paths rather than mere stipends. Conversely, the BJP must prove its Viksit Bengal model and whether projects like the Durgapur-Dankuni corridor can outmatch the state’s successful micro-economics with high-value prestige careers. The outcome of the assembly election will depend on which party can package its message credibly,” says political commentator and cartoonist Ajitesh Kar.