New Delhi, May 4 -- As a non-resident Bengali of my generation, I have witnessed with deep anguish the steady decline of West Bengal from its once-prominent position in India's economic and intellectual landscape. What has been even more disheartening is the repeated pattern of large electoral mandates being given to successive governments-first the Left Front, and then the Trinamool Congress-followed by a growing sense of unmet expectations and a sense of repeated betrayal of trust.

When Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011, she carried with her a powerful promise of change: an end to decades of Left Front rule, which many believe had pushed the state into fiscal stress, industrial stagnation, and governance fatigue. The mandate was no...