West Bengal: BJP to use Durga Puja to woo voters

New Delhi: Epitomised as the “victory of good over evil”, the BJP has decided to take advantage of the coming Durga Puja festival in West Bengal to project itself as the “protector of democracy”, and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress as the ruling party which has unleashed an “undeclared emergency” in the state.

BJP president and Union home minister Amit Shah, along with various top leaders and Union ministers, will be attending the festival and participate in the rituals. BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh, Medinipur’s MP, met Mr Shah and other central leaders to finalise the names of national leaders, including ministers, who will visit the state during the festival to drum up support for the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

Upbeat over its performance in the Lok Sabha polls in May, when it bagged 18 of the state’s 42 parliamentary seats, its best-ever performance in West bengal, Mr Ghosh said he is confident that the BJP, with the support of the people, will oust the TMC and bring in the “asli parivartan” that Bengal has been waiting for. The BJP’s organisational base as well as its popularity has seen a  ignificant increase ever since the Narendra Modi-led BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014 and Mr Shah took over the reins of the saffron party.

“I am confident our party will win the Assembly polls. Mamata Di and her cadre tried hard to stop people to cast votes in the panchayat polls and they gave her the best reply in the Lok Sabha polls. TMC got just 17 lakh more votes than us and we are working to get that 17 lakh votes,” said Mr Ghosh.

On the TMC’s stiff opposition to the National Register of Citizens, the BJP leader said: “West Bengal desperately needs the NRC as the state has witnessed a population explosion because of illegal occupants, including from Bangladesh, and the Rohingyas.”

“If the NRC is implemented, there will be at least two crore people in the state who will be illegal occupants. The state government is busy giving shelter to illegal occupants for votebank politics... even Rohingyas are being enrolled in the voters list,” said Mr Ghosh, saying only the BJP can usher in democracy in the state. He also said every Bengali’s support to the Modi government has only strengthened after its decision on Article 370 as Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a Bengali, sacrificed his life over the issue. BJP working president J.P. Nadda is due to address a seminar in Kolkata by the end of this month on the abrogation of Article 370.

On hiring political strategist and JD(U) leader Prashant Kishor, Mr Ghosh said: “See how her reactions have been coming... when the entire country and even other countries have praised our efforts on Chandrayaan-2, she found it a diversionary tactic... Kishor lectures her in the morning on what not to do, but she forgets it by the evening”.