By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: Optics rather than cohesive groundwork to build up an efficient poll machinery marks the activities of West Bengal unit of BJP in the run up to the Assembly elections in April/May this year.. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed meeting on March 15 at Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata seeks to energise the party’s rank and file who are otherwise yet to be deployed in building up tenor of the coming election campaign in West Bengal.
A multi pronged game plan for contesting the elections has been drawn up by the saffron camp planners in the state. The fact that many of them are not from West Bengal and lack a feel of the pulse of the people is not to be overlooked.
The unfamiliarity with the ground level issues marks the strategy drawn up by these key planners. Contrast Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s constant and scathing criticism of the Special Intensive Revision of the voters list with .the state saffron camp’s poll plans.
Criticism of the SIR process coupled with the launch of the Yuva Sathi which involves extending financial help to the jobless youth of the state is a far more people encompassing programme than BJP’s programme of action.
Of course, it has been derided as dole by the BJP leadership. But the likely recipients of the Yuva Sathi largesse feel otherwise and their opinion will find expression. in the ballot box.
The Trinamool supremo’s appearance and submission on the SIR issue at the Supreme Court highly deserve mention though senior BJP leaders at the national and state level have dismissed as a gimmick.
But Banerjee pleading the distress of those fearing disenfranchisement before the apex court was music to the ears of the populace who are spending sleepless nights. Incidentally a considerable section of Matua populace, a scheduled caste community spread over several Assembly segments are reported to be under the SIR axe.
Over successive elections, the support of the Matuas has been crucial to BJP candidates victories. The head honchos of the state BJP have been left wondering if the silence of Union home minister, Amit Shah during his February 18Mayapur visit on this issue as the area is thickly populated by the community.
The saffron camp’s reach out plan involves plans till date are anything but inclusive. It plans to take out nine “Parivartan Rath Yatras ” across West Bengal seeking regime change.
It is a 5000 kilometre journey scheduled to start on March 1. Covering all the 294 Assembly segments in the state, the BJP is scheduled to hold 60 large rallies and 309 smaller gatherings.
West Bengal has been divided into six political zones. .It targets specific voter demographics and strengthen booth level presence.
The campaign will focus on poor governance, law and order issues and the recent upping of communal frenzy in neighbouring Bangladesh and its fallout on border constituencies.
A corporate style approach will mark out this campaign with teachers lawyers and physicians venting their views on the ills of the TMC regime. The speakers will also include senior officers of the uniformed services post retirement.
If it looks effective on paper, a closer look will reveal several loopholes These journeys turning Special Utility Vehicles (SUVs) into chariots draw inspiration from the original proponent of the rathyatras — Lal Krishna Advani.
What the saffron poll campaign planners have overlooked is that the persons tiding the election chariots are not within hailing distance of Advani’s charisma. Nor is the situation in West Bengal is as charged when Advani began his nationwide journey on building the Ram temple at Ayodhya.
The principal weakness of West Bengal BJP lies in scarcity of its booth level activists. The campaign aims to rejuvenate these grassroot followers of the saffron camp.
But what should have been an yearlong exercise is being tried to be done in months nay weeks. ; The results are likely to be predictable with BJP poll agents leaving the polling booths unmanned as afternoon shadows grow longer on the polling day.
If union home minister Amit Shah steered clear of addressing political issues during his Mayapur visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed rally at Brigade Parade ground will be an out and out clarion call to defeat TMC in the elections. He will be addressing at this iconic large ground after a gap of five years. Last was in 2021 before the state assembly polls.
But his speech stands the risk of becoming campaign fodder for TMC instead of exhorting the saffron camp activists to greater efforts. ,The national level BJP leaders are known to be sloppy in doing their homework on Bengal and its icons.
And PM Modi is no exception. Only recently he had referred to literary lion Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Bankimda” on the floor of the Lok Sabha.
Even if he has made amends, referring to Chattopadhyay on a term of familiarity , this has left a bad taste in the mouth of the Bengali voters. In this backdrop, efforts to elevate Vande Mataram penned by Chattopadhyay to the higher level than Jana Gana Mana by Tagore, has not found favour with the Bengali voters.
On February 19, PM made another gaffe in his post in X calling Sree Sree Ramakrishna Paramhansa as Swami on the occasion of his birthday. This led to immediate furore among the Bengalis as Ramakrishna is never called Swami, only Vivekananda is called Swami. CM Mamata Banerjee immediately blasted the PM in her post saying that PM is taking his liberty in naming Bengali icons showing disrespect. Just during the poll campaign, this gaffe is costing the BJP.
The sight of PM Modi addressing a huge rally at Brigade Parade ground will certainly be a morale booster to the BJP rank and file on the eve of the elections. Yet a section of the state camp leaders are keeping their fingers crossed lest they scurry for a damage control effort post another gaffe from PM Modi at the Brigade Parade rally. (IPA Service)
