Voters are getting smarter with each election. To impress them, politicians need to work much harder now.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah faux pas-ed badly at his first election rally in West Bengal on 10 April, his first election rally in the state after the poll dates were announced. In his speech at Balurghat constituency, he kept mispronouncing ‘Balurghat’ as ‘Belurghat’.
A slip of the tongue sounded doubly ridiculous because Balurghat is up in north Bengal and Belur Math is a stone’s throw from Kolkata in the south and close to every Bengali’s heart. It is where Ramakrishna Mission is headquartered, founded by Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of the revered Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. The temple at Belur is a holy pilgrimage site. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stayed there overnight during one of his visits to Kolkata.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) is making the most of Shah’s mistake. “‘Belurghat’ saw a glimpse of the ‘Shah’i migratory bird today. Who neither knows Bengal’s heart nor its language,” the party tweeted.
Same old tactics
TMC was clearly gleeful but it also needs to think of new campaign strategies for the election. The recent dharna by party MPs outside the office of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi was much like the one led by Abhishek Banerjee at Krishi Bhavan in October last year. On both occasions, when protesting TMC leaders were bundled into a bus and driven to a police station, their reactions were almost the same—tweets and quotes saying TMC MPs kidnapped, MPs being driven around New Delhi, destination unknown. Too much déjà vu.
There are no excuses for the way senior MP Derek O’Brien was heckled and manhandled by the police, nor for the treatment of the party’s newest MP Sagarika Ghose. It was outright disturbing to see Dola Sen being dragged by police as she kept telling them to stop, citing her recent leg surgery. The indignity is unpardonable.
But demands must be realistic if you want them to be met even halfway. The TMC went to ECI to seek the removal of the chiefs of National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is what MP Sagarika Ghose was quoted saying vociferously on TV. It sounded unrealistic and felt like TMC had raised it only to grab media attention, and so it predictably fell on deaf ears. Even a newbie watcher of politics could see through this. In any case, when you repeat your tactics too often, they lose punch.
Just like Modi’s tactic of promising cash to people. His Rs 15 lakh promise made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections remains fresh in Indians’ minds. The Opposition has ensured it. Despite that, he blithely gave his word to Bengal’s voters he would return to them Rs 3,000 crore seized by the ED in alleged corruption cases in the state. This promise was made not once but twice this month. However, it cut little ice.
His man in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, pulled a similar card from his sleeve. At a meeting in Nandigram recently, he promised a dole of Rs 5,000 for all Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers arrested by “Mamata Banerjee’s police” if the BJP comes to power. The scheme has a grand name: Sangrami Bhata or Revolutionary Dole. TMC’s Kunal Ghosh tittered and shouted: model code violation.
Abhishek Banerjee, too, could do with a tweak to his strategy. The TMC’s youthful national general secretary needs to find synonyms for his favourite word vis-a-vis the BJP: Challenge. He is hurling challenges at the BJP every now and then. “I challenge BJP that if it can do X, I will do Y” is his favourite line. But it has become tiresome, as has his promise to go to the gallows or resign from politics if the BJP picks up the gauntlet.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) gauntlet is being kicked around by both TMC and BJP. Beware of the dire consequences if you apply for citizenship under the new law, says TMC. Mamata Banerjee is drilling this message home in every election rally. BJP says rubbish—“TMC is scaremongering, appeasing the minority and there will be no adverse side effects for signing up”. But people’s response to CAA has been lukewarm. When a BJP minister from West Bengal suddenly announces he is going to apply for citizenship under CAA and then equally suddenly goes mum, what else can be expected?
Also read: BJP accuses Mamata of resorting to vote bank politics on Eid, TMC counters charges
Amit Shah’s warning
Political parties really need to address issues like CAA seriously. Otherwise, they could confront what TMC is experiencing in the Sandeshkhali and Bhupatinagar cases.
As per the Calcutta High Court’s orders, the CBI will now take over the investigation of molestation and land grab complaints in Sandeshkhali. In the Bhupatinagar case, the police cannot arrest NIA officials who conducted the raid and arrested two TMC members in a bomb blast case. The wife of one of the men arrested alleged that NIA officials molested her. Police summoned NIA officials for questioning. But the court stepped in. Bottomline: State police will have no say in Sandeshkhali anymore. In the Bhupatinagar case, the state police’s control is looking frayed.
No wonder Shah is gloating. In 2021, his favourite phrase to describe his strategy against the TMC was “jad se ukhad ke phenko” or remove it by its roots. This time, that phrase may be replaced by the one he used on Wednesday at Balurghat—not against the TMC but against the “bomb makers of Bhupatinagar”. “Mamata Banerjee, shame on you,” he said, “You want to protect the bomb makers of Bhupatinagar? But don’t worry, people of Bengal. The high court has given the case to the NIA. Sabko ulta latkakey sidha kar diya jayega (Every one will all be strung upside down and straightened out)”. It’s almost as graphic as “jad se ukhad ke phenko”.
This warning is meant to send shivers down TMC’s spine but given its 2021 experience that is unlikely. TMC is, instead, cheering the fact that Shah seems to have made a downward revision in his expectations from West Bengal. In rallies addressed before election dates were announced, Shah set his sights on 35 out of the state’s 42 seats. Modi upped that expectation to 42 out of 42. But Shah scaled it down again. He is now saying the BJP will get 30 seats.
A user on X asked, “You mean 30 out of 43, right, if you include Belurghat?”
Well, Shah got Balurghat wrong. Maybe the 30 out of 42 seats prediction was also a slip of the tongue. But the voter is watching. Such mistakes can be forgiven but threats of people strung up and straightened? Our politicians need to tread with caution. Voters are more discerning than ever before. You can’t fool them all the time.
The author is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. She tweets @Monideepa62. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
When charlatans masquerading as journalists control the media, this is what you get.