Claiming Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had betrayed the people of West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress chairperson and accused her of brutality towards political opponents.
“Mamata didi runs a school of brutality where tolabaji (extortion), cut money, syndicate and anarchy form syllabus,” Mr. Modi said, while addressing a rally in Kharagpur.
During his speech, the Prime Minister referred to the 2018 panchayat polls in the State and said that the whole world watched how the democratic rights of the people were curtailed by not allowing them to take part in elections.
“This time, Didi will not be allowed to trample on democratic rights. What the Trinamool Congress used to do in the previous election will not be allowed this time,” Mr. Modi said.
He raised slogans such as Bhoy noi, Sudu joi (No fear only victory)and Is Baar BJP Sarkar (This time, it will be a BJP government).
The Prime Minister also showered praise on State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, saying that the party was proud to have a chief like him who withstood several attacks at the hands of the Trinamool.
Mr. Modi also pointed out that about 130 of the BJP’s cadre had been killed by Trinamool workers.
Referring to Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee hailing from the State of West Bengal, the Prime Minister claimed that the BJP was the only party of Bengal in true sense.
“The DNA of the BJP has the DNA of Syama Prasad Mookerjee,” he added.
The remark by the Prime Minister is aimed to counter the campaign of the Trinamool that BJP is an outside party.
Mr. Modi also took a swipe at the Trinamool slogan Khela Hobe (The game will be played).
“Didi is saying Khela Hobe. Entire Bengal is saying ‘Khela Sesh Hobe Vikas Hobe (Game over, now there will be development),” he said.
The Prime Minister said that only a double-engine government of the BJP, with the party in power in both Delhi and Bengal, could bring the State out of distress.
Targeting Trinamool leader and Ms. Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the Prime Minister said that while in the entire country there were attempts to ease out processes and have a single-window system, in Bengal there was another unique single-window system.
“That single-window system in Bengal is Bhaipho [nephew] window,” he said.
Billed as the most remarkable state election in recent times, the showdown in West Bengal boils down to two questions in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp: who is the David and who is the Goliath in this epic encounter, and can the party cash in on sub-regional equations and what it believes to be a sentiment in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in order to dislodge chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government?
Ask senior BJP leaders in Delhi and they cite Banerjee’s recent injury to drive home the point that the Goliath is now trying to portray itself as the David, a reference to the biblical story of underdog David defeating the giant Goliath in combat.
According to party insiders, the visuals of Banerjee campaigning on a wheelchair after she was injured at a rally in the high-profile Nandigram constituency earlier this month — she has alleged a BJP plot to kill her — appear to be a last and desperate throw of the dice by the chief minister.
“Here is a two-time CM with the muscle power of a well-entrenched cadre, money and resources…(but) the proverbial Goliath suddenly wants to play the sympathy card against a party that was a non-entity in the state with just three seats five years ago,” a BJP leader says, requesting anonymity.
Instead, the BJP says, it is the one that has struggled to find even hoarding space for publicity materials in the state, especially in Kolkata, which is plastered with Banerjee’s face, but is still being projected frantically by the ruling Trinamool Congress as an “outsider” and the dominant aggressor.
Nonetheless, the BJP camp thinks it has multiple reasons for its confidence that it will win Bengal, which has 294 seats. The BJP leadership has set a target of winning over 200 of them.
Replicating UP, Tripura Strategy
Bengal will be to Modi’s NDA II what Uttar Pradesh (UP) was to Modi’s NDA I, the BJP camp believes. In India’s most populous state, which has a 403-member assembly, the party rose from 47 seats in 2012 to 325 seats in 2017. Now, it sees a similar momentum in Bengal. The strategy for the eastern state seems borrowed heavily from UP as well as Tripura, where the BJP had a tough job in hand. But eventually, it ended the Left’s 20-year-old rule in Tripura in 2018, winning 36 of the state’s 60 seats. Significantly, it had drawn a blank five years ago.
A pointer to the “sweep” the BJP expects in Bengal is the response that Modi has been getting in there since 2019, party insiders say, claiming similarities in UP between 2014 and 2016 with people thronging his rallies.
This is said to be the reason why Modi could address as many as two dozen rallies in all in Bengal, rivalling what he did in UP, which has 37% more seats, in 2017. In Bengal, Modi has chosen to attack alleged corruption and nepotism under Banerjee’s watch, factors the BJP feels reflect the ground narrative.
BJP leaders cite smaller pointers too. Like a section of people in Nandigram coming out to counter Bannerjee and the Trinamool’s version of events leading up to her injury. This kind of a reaction is unlikely towards a government that is returning to power, a senior minister and a star campaigner says. Another is “Jai Sri Ram” becoming a slogan “that has come from the people” and a sign of discontent against the Trinamool government, the minister adds. This, the BJP feels, has reflected in the CM’s recitals of Chandi Path to showcase her Hindu identity, and her manifesto dropping a specific section on Muslim welfare, which was there in 2016. Moreover, her increasing personal attacks on Modi only work in the BJP’s favour, as she does not seem to have picked a trick on this front from Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, according to party insiders.
The PM is focusing on promises that the BJP feels are silently ringing a bell among the electorate on the ground — Rs 18,000 pay-out to each farmer in one go under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi plan, Rs 5-lakh medical insurance cover under Ayushman Bharat, the roll-out of ambitious drinking water scheme Har Ghar Jal, and bringing Hindu OBCs (Other Backward Classes) into the reservation net. Banerjee has had to counter this by promising monthly income support for state residents and reservation for some backward Hindu caste groups under the OBC umbrella.
Meanwhile, BJP’s ministers have been told to drill in the point that the state’s infrastructure is stuck in the 1960s and that Banerjee has refused to implement the Centre’s schemes for political reasons and minority appeasement. The law and order plank is being raked up to dent Banerjee’s women voter base.
Countering Trinamool
The BJP is, however, cognisant of the Trinamool’s sub-regional strength. It also remembers its below-par showing in the large pocket of South Bengal even in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which it won 18 out of the 42 seats. But 2021 is not 2019. The mood is “all-pervasive” and the party has built upon its 2019 success, BJP insiders reason. This includes wooing the tribal people and the Scheduled Castes (SCs), reaching out to the Dalit Matua community, and BJP president JP Nadda’s promise to include “left out” Hindu castes in the OBC list if the party wins the elections. It hopes this would offset 30% Muslim votes that could consolidate behind the Trinamool, although the Left-Congress-Indian Secular Front bloc is also in the fray.
Divided on the lines of religion, caste and community, Bengal offers a complex challenge of sub-regional politics. Banerjee’s strongest fort is South Bengal with over 90 assembly seats, but the BJP feels the region may have a different pattern of voting for the first time. The North 24-Paraganas and Nadia districts (40 seats) near the border with Bangladesh have the Matua community, who are refugees from Bangladesh, as the deciding factor in 15-16 constituencies. The BJP feels it has an edge with the promise of operationalising the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, once the Covid-19 vaccination is over. The BJP leadership has stressed its commitment to implementing the law that fast-tracks citizenship of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis who have arrived in India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 2015. Modi’s planned visit to a Matua temple during his Bangladesh trip, on the first day of polling in Bengal, will be an event high on optics.
The road remains tough for the BJP in South Bengal’s big district of South 24-Parganas, which is the only district where the Trinamool got leads in all 31 assembly segments in 2019. Muslims account for at least 30% of the total population here, and that makes the BJP’s challenge difficult until there is an absolute polarisation of votes. The party is, however, hoping for a turnaround in the key East Midnapore district, which has been a strong citadel of Banerjee. With Suvendu Adhikari, who used to manage these areas for the CM, defecting and being fielded against her from Nandigram, the BJP hopes political equations will change.
The BJP is also trying its best to hold on to its dominance in ‘Jangalmahal’, the forested and interior rural areas of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore that contributed to its impressive showing in 2019. Banerjee has launched several cash schemes for tribal people here to regain lost ground. Similar are the expectations from North Bengal, where the BJP won all six Lok Sabha seats in 2019 with support from Rajbanshi indigenous communities in Coochbehar and the namasudras in border districts. Namasudras, including Matuas, are refugees from Bangladesh. For them, the CAA promise is a key factor.
The BJP is also hoping that the Muslim-majority districts of Malda and Murshidabad will side with the Congress again, causing a split in Muslim votes and denting Banerjee’s chances in the process. The hill districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, however, remain a mystery with the traditionally strong party, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, splitting into two factions. The one led by Bimal Gurung has joined hands with the Trinamool, while the BJP has chosen not to align with any faction.
War of Wits
The BJP won’t cross 100 seats, the Trinamool’s strategist, Prashant Kishor, has said, a claim the BJP sees as a tacit admission of its impending rise. The ruling party is playing up protests inside the BJP over ticket distribution and has alleged low attendance at rallies by BJP leaders. As the battle heats up, some assume the BJP may run Trinamool close, but not win. They think that the BJP will have to be content with a “moral victory” like the Congress claimed to have in Gujarat in 2017. But home minister Amit Shah’s declaration that the BJP will win 200+ seats shows each seat matters. For Modi and Shah, David, or the BJP in battle ground Bengal, beating Goliath paves the road to a third term at the Centre in 2024.
NEW DELHI: Even as most of last year saw India and China engaging in hostilities at the northern borders post the Galwan incident, China remains on top of the list of countries from where India imported goods during January to December of 2020. In 2020, India imported goods worth $58.71 billion from China, the government told Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy, had asked the commerce and industry minister for details of top five countries from where India imported goods in the last one year including the amount of imports and the reasons of import from China including the trade value of import from China in the last one year. In his written reply minister of state for commerce and industry, Hardeep Singh Puri told the House that China, USA, UAE, Saudi Arab and Iraq were the top five countries in that order, from which India imported goods. “The details of top five countries from where India has imported goods during 2020 (January- December) are, China goods worth $58.71 billion, from United States of America goods worth $26.89 billion, from United Arab Emirates goods worth $23.96 billion, from Saudi Arabia $17.73 billion and from Iraq $16.26 billion.” The amount of total imports from the top five countries that India bought from is worth $143.55 billion, which amounts to 38.59 % of our total imports, when India’s total import amounts to $371.98 billion, he added. The minister also said that, “Imports take place to meet the gap between domestic production and supply, consumer demand and preferences for various items.” The major items of import from China, according to the minister are “products such as telecom instruments, computer hardware and peripherals, fertilizers, electronic components/instruments, project goods, organic chemicals, drug intermediates, consumer electronics, electrical machinery etc.”
In a move to connect to the local people ahead of polls, Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday invoked Bengali icon and former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly in his speech. He said that like Ganguly hit a six, with the state’s support, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would too hit a six in the assembly elections.
“Whenever Sourav Ganguly crossed the crease, it was sure that he would hit a six. Likewise, with your support in Lok Sabha, we’ve crossed the crease and surely we’ll hit a six in assembly polls and form BJP govt here,” Singh said in West Midnapore.
Ganguly, the president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had recently suffered a mild stroke. According to doctors, three arteries of the 48-year-old were blocked by over 70 per cent and he received a stent in one of the arteries.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and state governor Jagdeep Dhankhar were the first to visit the former India skipper at the hospital. He received calls from the home minister and the prime minister inquiring about his health.
Dhankhar also met the cricketer at Raj Bhavan for the first time, in the over two years he has spent in office. Pictures of the meeting had also gone viral on all social platforms.
According to a report in Indian Express, the hospital authorities had set up a special ‘Sourav Ganguly lounge’ with tea, coffee and water dispensers for visitors who went there without permission. At the lounge, health updates of the former cricketer were shared with the fans at regular intervals.
There were speculations of Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, Mithun Chakraborty and cricketer Sourav Ganguly joining the BJP. However, while Ganguly and Chatterjee haven’t yet joined the saffron brigada, Chakraborty became a member a few days ago.
The ruling Trinamool Congress, however, feels that this is a BJP strategy “to confuse people”. “By clicking pictures with Sourav Ganguly or Bumba Da (Prosenjit) or Mithun Da, who are immensely popular among Bengalis, BJP is trying to create confusion. Like every other false agenda they bring, this is another fake narrative,” the TMC Rajya Sabha MP and theatre director Arpita Ghosh was quoted as saying by The Print before Chakraborty’s entry into the BJP.
The party said that it announced the names of 20 candidates from among the 26 seats for which it has an alliance with the Left Front
Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front (ISF), an alliance partner of the Left Front and the Congress in the State, on March 14 announced the names of candidates for 20 constituencies in the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.
ISF president Simul Soren will contest from Haripal in Hooghly district, while Mohammed Iqbal and Nuruzzaman will be the party’s candidates from Entally and Metiabruz, respectively, it said in a statement.
ISF is yet to announce the names of candidates from Canning Purba, Jangipara, Bhangar, Madhyamgram, Haroa and Mayureshwar — the seats it has identified to fight from as a part of the alliance.
The party said that it announced the names of 20 candidates from among the 26 seats for which it has an alliance with the Left Front.
While the Left Front has given 30 seats to the ISF from its kitty, the Congress, from which the Siddique-led party demanded 15 seats, has agreed to give it only eight from its share.
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National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday hit out at BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari for his remarks that West Bengal will become like Kashmir if the Trinamool Congress came back to power in the state.
“But according to you BJP wallas Kashmir has become paradise after August 2019 so what’s wrong with West Bengal becoming Kashmir? Anyway, Bengalis love Kashmir and visit us in large numbers so we forgive you your stupid, tasteless comment,” Omar said in a tweet.
The former J-K chief minister was reacting to Adhikari’s reported statement that West Bengal would become like Kashmir if the TMC returned to power in the assembly elections.
The UDF and the LDF in Kerala are in the last state if seat sharing talks. In Tamil Nadu the DMK will declare likely declare its first list on March 10.
The Trinamool Congress Elections committee will be held at chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence on Friday.
Meanwhile the BJP held meetings on Thursday to decide on their candidate for the polls. News18 learnt that the BJP is unlikely to field any MPs for these polls.
The BJP will also hold a meeting at their Hastings office in Kolkata at 5 pm on Friday even as their star candidate, a TMC turncoat, Suvendu Adhikari addresses a public meeting in Panskura.
The BJP on Thursday urged the Election Commission to remove “political appointees” from various boards of administrators in civic bodies appointed by the West Bengal government, saying it appointed the same representatives who had completed their term of five years in blatant violation of constitutional and legal provisions. A BJP delegation, including Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, two party general secretaries Bhupender Yadav and Kailash Vijayvargiya, Om Pathak and Sanjay Mayukh, submitted a representation to the poll watchdog, asking it to take necessary steps for ensuring free, fair and transparent assembly elections in the state.
Special observer for the elections in West Bengal Ajay Nayak and police observer Vivek Dubey are supposed to arrive in Kolkata on Friday to overview preparedness for the polls.
In Assam too, the BJP is likely to announce a list of candidates on Friday
Questioning the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she suspects the dates were announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for better management of the BJP’s poll campaign.
Addressing a press conference at her residence in Kalighat, Banerjee said the Election Commission should not look at the state “through the eyes of the saffron camp” — a reference to the BJP.
“With all due respect to the Election Commission, I want to say that questions are being raised on why elections will be held in so many phases in Bengal while other states will be voting in one phase. If EC doesn’t provide justice to the people, where will the people go,” she said, adding that despite “all these tricks”, she will win the elections.
”I have information from my sources that the poll dates are similar to the ones BJP wanted. Have the dates been announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah? The PM and the home minister cannot misuse their power for the state elections,” she added.
Banerjee said she is the daughter of the state and knows Bengal better than the BJP, exuding confidence about her party Trinamool Congress winning the elections.
The first phase of polling in West Bengal will be on March 27, the second phase on April 1, the third phase on April 6 and the fourth on April 10. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth phases will be held on April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29, respectively.
The EC will appoint two special observers for Bengal and a third can also be sent if required, said Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora in response to queries on whether enough arrangements are in place for the polls in the state where many have been raising questions about political violence.
Responding to questions on the increased number of phases in Bengal, Arora said when the EC assesses the law and order situation, it is based on several factors. “After all the elections to West Bengal (assembly) in 2016 was in seven phases. The Lok Sabha was in seven phases. So, seven to eight (phases) is not such a big deal because we also have to see the movement of forces, we also have to see the current charges and counter-charges (by political parties),” he said.
“We have to kind of find a way out. That is why we are sending two expenditure observers to Tamil Nadu and two police observers to West Bengal,” he explained.
Asaduddin Owaisi, chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), has cancelled his West Bengal visit after Kolkata Police refused to grant permission for his public meeting in Metiabruz area.
Aiming at ‘Ahl-i Hadith’, ‘Barelvi’ and ‘optimistic’ over a share of Deobandi vote share in the upcoming polls – Owaisi had decided to hold his first-ever political rally in West Bengal in Kolkata’s Metiabruz area on February 25.
Speaking to News18.com, state AIMIM president Jamirul Hassan said: “It is unfortunate that Kolkata police didn’t allow Asaduddin Owaisi to hold public rally in Kolkata. We applied for police permission nearly two weeks ago but till today we have not received any response from Kolkata Police.
“TMC government is scared of Asaduddin Owaisi as they feel that they may lose significant numbers of Assembly seats in Bengal. This is the reason they are not allowing us to hold political meetings in Bengal. Few days ago, TMC workers threatened our supporters in Metiabruz area. My supporters are getting calls not to attend any meetings of AIMIM. I would like to tell the TMC workers that more they will try to suppress us, the more we will be stronger,” Hassan said.
Out of nearly 2.50 crore (approx) Muslim population in Bengal – nearly 40 per cent voters are ‘Deobandi’, while ‘Barelvi’ sect consists of 30 per cent voters and Ahl-i Hadith comes third with 25 per cent. Political experts believe that significant number of Owaisi’s supporters in West Bengal belongs to Ahl-i Hadith and ‘Barelvi’ sects, which jointly contributes to nearly 55 percent of voters among Muslim populations in the state. And this is the area where Owaisi is aiming at to make a ‘decisive’ entry in Bengal’s politics.
The party has already appointed three persons in-charge of Bengal to look after the poll affairs and they are former Mayor of Hyderabad Municipality Mohammad Majid Hussain, State AIMIM president Jamirul Hassan and AIMIM national spokesperson Asim Waqar.
Hussain is already in Bengal and he will inaugurate AIMIM’s first party office in Park Circus area in Kolkata. On Thursday, Hussain will interact with various political leaders of smaller regional parties and also a media interaction on TMC’s ‘undemocratic way’ to stop AIMIM from entering Bengal.
Meanwhile, BJP’s national president JP Nadda’s ‘Poriborton Yatra’ at Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas on Thursday was also postponed due to ‘police permission issue’.
BJP leader Sabyasachi Datta said, “There is some police permission issue and there the ‘Poriborton Yatra’ was postponed.”
Reacting on hurdle before ‘Poriborton Yatra’, BJP MP Arjun Singh tweeted, “The Barrackpore city police has cancelled the permission for today’s ‘Poriborton Yatra’ on Ghosh Para from Kanchrapara to Barrackpore on the instructions of Mamata official. Yatra is postponed, we will move to court and resume the yatra. Rest programs of national president JP Nadda is on.”
