Bengal’s electoral battleground on Thursday, the phase one of the Assembly polls, saw the BJP weaponising a 13-second clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against the Trinamool supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
However, Mamata launched a defiant counter-offensive later in the day, declaring her party was already in the driver’s seat of the two-phase Bengal elections.
The BJP posted the soundbite extracted from a longer 1.47-minute message delivered by Rahul, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on his own X handle on Thursday.
“If Mamataji had run a clean government, if she hadn’t polarised the state to this extent, the road would not have been cleared for the BJP,” Rahul was heard saying in the clip.
The BJP campaign machine pounced on this as an endorsement, hailing his “honesty” over Trinamool to frame the national Opposition — both Rahul and Mamata are key INDIA constituents — as fragmented.
“Rahul Gandhi keeps dropping truth bombs regarding the TMC. Thanks again Rahul ji. #BJPKeVoteDin,” posted the BJP’s Bengal unit on X.
However, Rahul’s full video shows he spoke on the dangers that the BJP poses to both the nation and Bengal. Unsurprisingly, the BJP did not use those parts.
“The BJP steals elections.... The BJP is against Bengal’s culture, history, and language.... We are trying to protect the Constitution. The BJP is trying to finish the Constitution,” Rahul had said.
Mamata, unfazed by the digital sniping, addressed a spirited crowd in Bowbazar, tearing into the BJP. She questioned the authenticity of the jhalmuri optics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhargram and dismissed saffron claims of having done well in the 152-seat phase.
The Trinamool supremo projected an air of absolute certainty, asserting she knew the pulse of the people.
“If I can understand the pulse of the people, then let me tell you that we are already in the driver’s seat,” she declared.
Apparently choosing to ignore Rahul’s message, she promised to spearhead a national front to “conquer Delhi” alongside national Opposition allies once the Bengal election is secured.
“I am not interested in any post, I don’t want the chair (of the Prime Minister). I only want the end of the BJP government in Delhi,” she said. “The downfall of the BJP has started. Their tough time in Delhi will start from August this year.”
Referring to Modi’s statements on Thursday that the BJP was winning in Bengal, Mamata said: “A respectable chair must not spread lies.... He was here this morning. He came to threaten the administration since they don’t have workers on the ground. Everything is being done by their agencies....”