E-Paper
Before Bengal polls begin, Amit Shah leads BJP’s mega charge with 30 rallies across districts
As campaigning for the first phase ended at 5 pm, people in those 30 constituencies braced themselves to witness chief minister Mamata Banerjee face her second acid test after 2011 when she ousted the Left Front government.
West Bengal witnessed the biggest election campaign recorded on a single day in recent history with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s star campaigners led by Union home minister Amit Shah holding 30 rallies across south Bengal districts where elections will be held in the first three of eight phases.
As campaigning for the first phase ended at 5 pm, people in those 30 constituencies braced themselves to witness chief minister Mamata Banerjee face her second acid test after 2011 when she ousted the Left Front government. In these constituencies, the BJP made deep inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when it won 18 of the state’s 42 seats.
The highlight of the day was the road show of actor Mithun Chakraborty who hit the roads for the first time after joining the saffron camp on March 7.
“Listen to me. Do not be scared. This election is being conducted by the Election Commission of India,” Shah told the crowd at Baghmundi in Purulia district in a bid to assure voters that political violence witnessed earlier - especially during the panchayat elections in 2018 when the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had won 34% seats without contest - will not be repeated. The BJP wrested the Purulia Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
“Mamata Bannerjee wants to make bhatija (nephew) the next chief minister while the BJP wants to bring progress,” he said, without naming Abhishek Banerjee who also campaigned at Baghmundi.
In West Midnapore, Banerjee targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I hope a prime minister like this will never be born again. Have you seen his eyes? It seems someone is coming to swallow us. Do not compromise with ruffians from outside (Bengal),” she said, maintaining her ‘bohiragato’ (outsider) narrative against BJP leaders from north and central India. Modi countered this with tough words a day earlier.
Shah, actor Mithun Chakraborty, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and at least 15 other BJP state and national leaders and candidates addressed rallies or led roadshows on Thursday. The BJP hired several choppers to ferry its campaigners from one district to the next.
The warring parties focused on the election manifestos and talked of providing employment and introducing social welfare schemes.
The polls will be held between March 27 and April 29 and results will be announced on May 2.
Shah, who has been visiting the state since October last year to plan poll strategy, addressed back-to-back rallies in the districts of Purulia, Jhargram, East Midnapore and Bankura where the BJP won four Lok Sabha seats in 2019. This is the first time he addressed rallies in four Bengal districts on a single day, BJP leaders said.
“Fishermen will get ₹6000 a year once we come to power. They will also be provided with a life insurance cover of ₹3 lakh,” Shah said at Mecheda in East Midnapore.
In East Midnapore, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari, the Lok Sabha member from Contai, has already joined the BJP. His second son Dibyendu, the MP from Tamluk, is likely to join the saffron camp soon.
Adityanath addressed three rallies; at Sagar island in South 24 Parganas, at Chandrakona in West Midnapore and Nandigram in East Midnapore where the chief minister and Suvendu Adhikari will face a tough battle in the second phase of polling on April 1.
“Mamata Banerjee is not interested in stopping infiltration and murders because she will lose her vote bank. In Bengal, people cannot perform Durga Puja. In Uttar Pradesh, we do not stop it,” Adityanath said in Nandigram where Muslims comprise 27% of the population.
Bengali icon Chakraborty, who joined the BJP at Modi’s rally in Kolkata, led four roadshows in the districts of Bankura, West Midnapore and Jhargram. “I am getting a very positive response from the people,” he told reporters. Large crowds braved the heat to get a glimpse of the actor who exchanged greetings with people at every location.
Rajnath Singh, who attended rallies in Purulia, Bankura and South 24 Parganas interacted with the audience to draw people’s attention. “Do you have enough bombs, violence and extortion here?” Singh asked the people at Kakdwip before starting his speech. When the crowds replied in the affirmative, he said, “What should I say in that case?”
Gambhir, who arrived in Bengal two days ago and attended some roadshows, was flown to the districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Hooghly.
