BJP gears up to throw tough Bengal challenge

ONE OF THE FACTORS PLAYING OUT IN THE POLL RUN-UP IS THE MODI GOVERNMENT’S CONTROVERSIAL CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL

SILIGURI/COOCHBEHAR/ALIPURDUARS: The driver of the e-rickshaw, “toto” to locals, enthusiastically points at the roads and culverts and declares, “The Mamata Banerjee government has got all this done.”

In the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district office in Cooch Behar, a small town in north West Bengal close to the Assam border, some leaders concede that the ruling Trinamool Congress has a “good record” in development.

But despite its track record and electoral supremacy in West Bengal – Trinamool won 211 of 294 seats in the 2016 assembly polls – chief minister Banerjee’s party might face its toughest poll challenge yet against the BJP in the April-may general elections.

Political functionaries have earmarked seats like Alipurduars, Cooch Behar, Balurghat, Jalpaiguri, Raiganj, Bishnupur, Malda North as well as Darjeeling and Asansol – the last two are in the BJP’S kitty – as likely arenas of fierce Trinamool-bjp contests.

One of several factors playing out in the poll run-up is the controversial citizenship amendment bill that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre brought to give non-muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan Indian citizenship.

“The bill has a lot of relevance for north Bengal,” explained political analyst Subhankar Sinha in Siliguri, the north Bengal town located between Assam, Nepal and Bhutan. “More than 90% Bengali Hindus in north Benin gal had roots in Bangladesh. For them, it’s a big issue.”

Author and historian Debabrata Chaki agreed with Sinha. “The citizenship thing can be a major political plank. But more important, the Congress has no base left here while the Left is a marginal force. A part of the Left organization has also shifted to the BJP,” he said in Cooch Behar, some 135 kms away from Siliguri.

the 2014 general elections, Trinamool increased its vote share in Bengal to 39.35% from 33.1% in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP won 16.84% votes in 2014 against 6.14% in 2009. The Left parties and the Congress suffered a sharp decline in support base.

North Bengal development minister and senior Trinamool leader Rabindra Nath Ghosh, however, rejected the possibility of a tough contest with the BJP. “In the 2016 Assembly polls, BJP vote share slipped to 10.16% while Trinamool got 44.91% of the popular votes in Bengal,” he said.

The ruling party has, however, changed four candidates, including a sitting MP in north Bengal, for the upcoming elections.

Although local people in Alipurduars and Jalpaiguri complained about the infighting in Trinamool, Ghosh claimed the party was united. “Does the BJP have any face in this area? The note ban and the economic crisis have badly hit the people. Voters are either coming back to us or going to CPI-M [Communist Party of India - Marxist],” he said.

Another advantage the Trinamool is looking at is the minority votebank. “Bengal has around 31% minority voters, who would stand rock solid behind Mamata Banerjee,” claimed a senior Trinamool leader.

Keen to expand its footprint in Bengal, the BJP is planning to make this an issue. “Trinamool’s politics is nothing but minority appeasement. In many state government schemes, Hindus are being ignored,” alleged Malati Rava, BJP district president in Cooch Behar.