Mamata's strange history lesson

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused her chief rivals in the state, the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), of double standards. Alluding to the fact that the two parties were opponents in Kerala's Assembly elections but had formed an alliance against her party, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, which went to the polls on Monday, Banerjee said: "Siraj ud-Daulah and Mir Jafar have joined forces." The statement, however, has left many people confused. Siraj ud-Daulah was the last independent Nawab of Bengal, who was defeated in the Battle of Plassey (1757) by the forces of the East India Company led by Robert Clive. One of the architects of his defeat was Mir Jafar, who betrayed the Nawab during the battle, and whose name is synonymous with treachery in the state. The alliance of the CPI-M and the Congress in West Bengal was criticised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. During an election campaign last month he said the two parties were indulging in kushti (wrestling) in Kerala and dosti (friendship) in West Bengal.