Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday tried to stoke regionalism at a meeting of BJP workers on the outskirts of Siliguri on Saturday to consolidate the party’s support base in north Bengal, where the BJP had secured over 55 per cent seats at the 2021 Assembly polls.
“In north Bengal, Trinamool has always tried to create rift among communities. It has divided Gorkhas, Bengalis, tribals, Rajbanshis, and other communities and has hardly paid any heed to their development. Instead of talking to the Gorkhas, (police) cases were thumped on them,” said Shah at a Karyakarta Sammelan in Bagdogra.
Since 2019, north Bengal has been tilted towards the BJP, as in the Lok Sabha polls held in that year, the party bagged seven of eight seats. In 2024, it could retain six of the eight seats in the parliamentary elections.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, it raced past Trinamool and won 30 of 54 seats.
“With Assembly elections round the corner, it is evident that the BJP would recast its focus on north Bengal where it had won over 55 per cent Assembly seats, unlike remaining parts of the state where it could win in only 20 per cent of the Assembly constituencies (47 of 240),” pointed out a political observer.
On Saturday, Shah repeated the term “north Bengal” many times and alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government of the state is ignorant of the region’s development.
“This region comprises around 24 per cent of Bengal’s total geographical area. Yet, only a minuscule portion of the state’s budget is allocated for north Bengal. Once the BJP is voted to power in the state, we will ensure that the region gets an appropriate budgetary allotment vis-à-vis its area,” said Shah.
Shah stressed the importance of “chicken’s neck” or the Siliguri corridor, the thinnest stretch of Indian territory with Nepal and Bangladesh in the north and south, which connects the entire Northeast.
“People across India are aware of Siliguri because of its geographical importance. Recently, some people in Delhi had said they would cut off the chicken’s neck and had to face police action. We will not allow any move that can affect the security of this area,” said Shah.
He also took the task to reach out to the tea population, whose votes decide the results in 10 to 12 Assembly seats. In some of the recent elections, a considerable portion of tea workers and their families had voted for the BJP.
Shah scoffed at the state government’s “Cha Sundari” scheme, the free housing scheme launched for tea workers.
“In (BJP-ruled) Assam, central funds were utilised for the development of tea workers, but in Bengal, the chief minister has provided houses which are the size of a matchbox to some workers. Once we come to power in this state, every tea worker will get proper land rights,” he said.