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Amit Shah, Nirmala, Smriti Irani — BJP pulls out the big guns to take on Mamata in Bengal

BJP, which launched its poll campaign with an Amit Shah virtual rally on 9 June, has divided Bengal into 5 zones, with one cabinet minister addressing a rally for each zone.

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New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has engaged a battery of Cabinet ministers to address virtual rallies in West Bengal ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, in a bid to counter Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress. 

This is part of a larger campaign, which also involves central and state BJP leaders addressing virtual meetings, mounted by the party as it looks to cement recent gains in West Bengal, where it has never been in office. 

The BJP’s West Bengal campaign was kickstarted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 9 June, and has so far seen a number of union ministers, including Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Arjun Ram Meghwal address party functionaries. 

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said the entire state has been divided into five zones, with one cabinet member addressing a rally for each zone.  

“The first rally was addressed by Amit Shah ji and, after that, other cabinet ministers have also addressed rallies. The idea is to spread the work done by the Modi government, the initiatives that have been taken by the central government for West Bengal,” he told ThePrint.

West Bengal has 23 districts but the BJP has outlined 39 ‘organisational districts’ as part of its outreach efforts for the state. 

According to a senior BJP leader, the aim of the West Bengal campaign is to cover all the 39 districts in the state, with the cabinet members’ participation meant to “sustain the momentum”. 

“The BJP has 39 organisational districts in the state and cabinet ministers who are addressing these rallies will cover all these districts. At the same time, once all the 39 districts are covered, meetings at the Vidhan Sabha level will also take place and they are likely to be addressed by central ministers,” the senior BJP leader added. “The rallies will cover 42 Lok Sabha and 294 assembly segments.”

The Modi government’s Rs 20 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Bharat package, announced in light of the Covid-19 crisis, has been the focus of these interactions. 

For example, addressing a virtual rally for West Bengal earlier this week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman alleged that the state government was not cooperating in the implementation of the central government’s relief measures like the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana, the employment scheme for returnee migrant workers.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is expected to address another such rally Thursday.

“In the meetings, the Atmanirbhar package of the Centre is being explained and the schemes of the Centre that were in place during the lockdown,” a second BJP leader said. 

“At the same time, the thrust is also on explaining how each of these schemes can benefit the district and what more needs to be done.”


Also Read: E-rallies, WhatsApp groups, nukkad meets — how BJP plans digital poll campaign in pandemic


Central BJP keeping a check 

According to sources, the central leadership is taking direct feedback from the state unit on the reception received by these rallies. 

“Soon after a rally is over, we have to give feedback to the central leadership on how many people viewed and attended it. They check how many people were informed about it and whether all of them viewed it,” said a senior West Bengal BJP functionary. 

“During Amit Shahji’s meeting, more than 2 crore people tuned in. The check by the central leadership is to ensure no one takes these meetings lightly.”

The BJP has been steadily making inroads into West Bengal, where it won 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, up from two in 2014. 

Ghosh said the state unit of West Bengal has also started a campaign to deliver Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s NDA anniversary letter to citizens. The letter was issued on the first anniversary of NDA-2 this May, and sought to highlight the achievements of the Modi government. 

The party is also using the opportunity to inform people about what they describe as the failure of the Mamata Banerjee government in tackling Covid-19 and Cyclone Amphan, he added.


Also Read: Mamata govt now in trouble over Amphan relief ‘scam’, after cut-money and PDS corruption


Rallies in other parts of India too 

Central ministers have been engaged to address rallies in other parts of India too — Smriti Irani has addressed a virtual rally in Delhi, Nitin Gadkari in Madhya Pradesh, where bypolls are scheduled for later this year, and Amit Shah in poll-bound Bihar. 

These are among multiple virtual rallies organised by the BJP, with the other meetings led by MPs, senior BJP leaders, and state ministers.


Also Read: Roopa, Locket, Agnimitra — how BJP mahila morcha got a ‘glamorous turn’ in Bengal


 

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