Kolkata: For Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister and supremo of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), a calling card in the face of mounting challenge from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been the ‘outsiders’ tag for the later. It was once again used subtly, alongwith an underlying emotional appeal to the people of the state, as the ruling party launched their 2021 assembly election slogan at the party headquarters here on Saturday.
‘‘Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chai,’’ (Bengal want their own daughter only) - the slogan was unveiled by Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha MP and party’s national spokesperson, in the presence of senior Trinamool leaders who made a case as to why ‘Didi’ deserved a chance for the third time in what could be the mostly bitterly fought elections for her yet. Banerjee, on whom the party’s campaign would revolve like possibly never before this time, was not present in the launch.
A close look at the slogan, whose essence could be lost if one is not reasonably familiar with Bengali language, marries the idea of ‘own daughter’ (as opposed to any outsider) alongwith a call for showing loyalty to the government which had been in power over the past decade. The theme will now be taken forward to all district headquarters from Sunday onwards.
‘‘It’s a simple message but it’s also open to interpretations. You are free to draw your own conclusions,’’ O’Brien reiterated in the face of queries from a handful of national TV channel crew if the slogan has taken a dig at the ‘outsider’ factor again. The BJP, which had been pulling their might on the eve of the announcement of election dates in five states (Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are the others) by next week, is aware of the perception against them and Union Home Minister Amit Shah - during one of his whistle stop visits recently - addressed the issue by saying they will install a ‘Bhumiputra’ (son of the soil) as the chief minister in West Bengal if they come to power.
A lot has transpired since then with the exodus of Trinamool ministers, leaders at disrict level and the venerable Rajya Sabha MP like Dinesh Trivedi (who, however, is yet to make a formal announcement of moving to BJP), but fact remains no clear candidate has emerged as a face to take on the aura of Mamata Banerjee. Answering to a query on this, Dilip Ghosh, the state BJP president said in a recent interview: ‘‘We never projected any chief minister unless we went to the polls with a chief minister. People are looking at me and, if they feel I am fine, they would accept me as a face. If you need a face, look at me.’’ A claim, which is yet to be endorsed by the party hierarchy.
Echoes of 2019 polls
It will hence boil down to a fight between the larger-than-life image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had already announced a slew of projects in the state during his last few visits, and Mamata Banerjee - in a virtual replay of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections in 2019. The BJP, which is treating Bengal as a ‘last frontier’ in terms of the weightage compared to the other four states going into polls, has worked hard to build on their gains two years back (with a vote share of 40% and 18 Lok Sabha seats) and is talking up their chances of reaching 200 seats this time.
Meanwhile, the sample survey companies have started getting into the act - and a recent one conducted by the media group ABP in partnership with CNX - attributes Trinamool 151 seats (+/-5) BJP in second spot with 117 seats (+/- 5) and the alliance between Left, Congress and possibly Indian Secular Front at 24 seats and others taking two seats. The magic figure in West Bengal assembly, which has a strength of 294, is 148 to form the government.
It’s still early days and other regional TV channels are expected to commission their own surveys soon - as nothing would grab the eyeballs better in the next two months. A cross section of leaders, including that of Trinamool, refused to attach much importance to them.
The frenzy will only go up a notch once the dates are announced.
