BJP leaders in Malda district had a loss of face on Wednesday as a major joining programme that they had planned at Malatipur area turned out to be a flop show as only a few people turned up to receive the party’s flag at the event.
The saffron camp had put impetus on the programme and had claimed hundreds of youths from the minority will join the party, a move that they felt could help them in drawing support from across Malda, a district that has close to 55 per cent minority population.
Sources said that the BJP had planned the event on the Alhadipur Primary School premises in Malatipur under Chanchal subdivision of the district. The dais was readied and even a feast was planned after the programme.
A delegation of district BJP leaders reached the spot and started overseeing arrangements. However, as the day rolled, they could not find any of those youths — all of them were from minority communities as claimed by the leaders — approaching the venue.
They started calling up their local leaders and workers, and soon, it became evident that only a few such youths will turn up at the meeting. This made them curtail the arrangements but they kept on waiting for them.
Eventually, in the afternoon, 15-odd youths from the minority community reached the venue. They were inducted into the party by Dipankar Ram, a district general secretary of BJP in Malda.
“The BJP leaders had time and again mentioned about the event and had claimed that hundreds of youths from the minority community would be on board. But they could hardly get a few and we doubt whether these youths would sooner or later leave the party. It was an utter flop show and indicates that the minority community has summarily rejected the BJP by not responding to the call,” said Moazzem Hossain, the chairman of Malda district Trinamul unit.
In Malda, the BJP had managed to win one of the two Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and an Assembly seat in 2016.
The party is now desperate to win support of minorities, keeping in mind that there are 12 Assembly seats in Malda and that in 2016, Trinamul could not win even one seat.
In closed quarters, the BJP leaders have admitted that the youths who got into the party have acted as a face-saver for them.
However, leaders like Gobinda Mondal, the district BJP president, accused Trinamul for being instrumental in deterring the youths.
“We have learnt from our party sources that those who were keen to join our party were threatened by Trinamul in different ways. They are mostly peasants and daily-rated workers, thus could not withstand the pressure. That is why they refrained from attending the programme,” Mondal said.
Trinamul, however, has brushed aside the charges.
“Local BJP leaders might have tried to persuade them but these people could finally realise BJP’s true agenda. That is why they stayed back,” said Hossain.