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On social media, Mamata’s video appeal to voters in Bengal’s 42 LS seats
This is the first time that any political party has undertaken such a constituency-specific social media campaign in Bengal.
West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has released short video clips of Mamata Banerjee’s tailor-made appeals to voters for each of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state over the last few days on social media.
This is the first time that any political party has undertaken such a constituency-specific social media campaign in the state.
In these micro-speeches that are of 20 to 40-second duration, the chief minister is seen introducing the candidate in some cases and highlighting her government’s works for some other constituencies.
The video clips are being shared from the constituency-specific Facebook pages the party created last year. West Bengal will vote in all seven phases of the elections on April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19.
While introducing the party’s candidate from Darjeeling, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha MLA Amar Singh Rai, Mamata said in Hindi, “A son of the soil is contesting on the TMC symbol in Darjeeling. We and the GJM (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) are together.” And then she added in Bengali, “His wife is a Bengali you must know. He can get along well with all ethnicities. He can bridge the gap between the hills and the plains.”
While speaking on Barrackpore and Bishnupur constituencies, where TMC defectors are contesting on BJP tickets, she urged voters to teach a lesson to the ‘traitors’.
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The TMC is facing a challenge this time from the BJP whose president Amit Shah has set a target of winning 22-23 of Bengal’s 42 seats. Banerjee wants to make a clean sweep in the state.
The longer clips were for Kolkata North (48 sec), Barrackpore (47 sec), Kolkata South (47 sec), Medinipur (45 sec), Barasat (44 sec) and Bangaon (43 sec).
“We planned the constituency-specific social media campaign approach in 2018,” said TMC’s IT cell head Diptanshu Chowdhury, a retired colonel.
Manas Majumdar, TMC MLA from Goghat in Hooghly district said that the chief minister’s video messages were also being circulated through WhatsApp.
“Sudip-da (Sudip Bandyopadhyay) is a senior leader. He is even senior to me. I love him because he respects the party. To bring transparency in politics, vote for Sudip Bandyopadhyay who is an honest and principled man,” she said in the video for Kolkata Uttar seat.
Incidentally, Bandyopadhyay spent more than four months in jail after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested him in January 2017 in connection with the Rose Valley scam.
