Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that he would stay in Bengal for 15 days during the election period, indicating that the No 2 in the Narendra Modi government was likely to adopt a strategy similar to the one he had used in last year’s Bihar polls.
“I do not want to give a long speech. I will stay in Bengal for 15 days during the elections. I will have many opportunities to speak with all of you. I came here today for the nomination of four candidates, especially for the nomination of Suvendu Adhikari,” Shah said at a meeting in Bhabanipur, the Assembly constituency in Calcutta from where the leader of the Opposition, Adhikari, has been pitted against chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
After the meeting, Shah took part in a procession that preceded Adhikari's nomination filing.
Besides Adhikari, three other candidates — Swapan Dasgupta (Rashbehari), Shatarupa Ghosh (Ballygunge) and Santosh Pathak (Chowringhee) — took part in the march that began from Hazra Crossing and ended at the Survey Building, the office of the district election officer for south Kolkata. Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya also took part in the march.
Shah, however, travelled in his car from the lane near Mamata's home to the Survey Building.
Before the Bihar elections in November last year, Shah had camped in the state for five days to iron out issues within the NDA, build electoral strategies, and oversee poll preparedness at the grassroots level. Like Bihar, Shah is acting as the poll strategist in Bengal, monitoring every step, fine-tuning internal differences in the BJP, addressing candidate-related issues, and identifying weak points of the Opposition.
Shah did not clarify whether he would camp continuously for 15 days or visit the state in short intervals of two or three days.
“Whenever he comes, he does not come just for a day to attend a particular public event. Today, he attended Adhikari’s nomination rally in Bhabanipur, but he arrived in Calcutta on Wednesday night. He held strategy meetings with key leaders overseeing the elections until early this morning. He will address at least 20 rallies in several constituencies during the election period. So, he may stay for two or three days at a stretch and return within a few days,” said a senior BJP leader.
The leader cited Shah’s March 28 press conference in the city, where he released a chargesheet against the Mamata Banerjee government, along with his subsequent visit.
“Look, he visited Bengal twice and stayed for two days each within a gap of just three days. So, he may follow a similar strategy,” the leader explained. “However, there is also a possibility that he may camp here for 15 days after the first phase of the elections on April 9.”
Shah on Thursday said defeating Mamata from Bhabanipur would be a “shortcut” to uproot the Trinamool Congress from Bengal.
“I have come to appeal to the voters of Bhabanipur. The entire Bengal is ready to bid farewell to Mamata Banerjee. But the responsibility for bringing change lies in your hands. We need to win seat by seat and reach 170 seats for change. But I have a shortcut. If the people of Bhabanipur ensure victory in this one seat, change will happen automatically,” Shah said.
“Suvendu da wanted to contest from Nandigram. I told him that not just Nandigram — he must enter Mamata’s stronghold in Bhabanipur and defeat her there,” he added.
“There is already a record. Mamata didi formed the government in the previous election, but she herself lost to Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. This time, she will lose across Bengal and again in Bhabanipur,” Shah said.
He said people of Bengal were eager to uproot Trinamool because of extortion, rampant corruption, torture by syndicates, and concerns over infiltration affecting the state’s demography.
Shah said once a BJP government was formed, borders would be sealed and infiltrators identified and deported.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who is contesting from Beleghata, has challenged Shah to remain in Bengal even for a day after the election results are declared.
“I challenge him to stay even for one day after the results,” Ghosh said, indicating that BJP leaders would disappear after Trinamool returned to power.
Trinamool workers raised slogans against the BJP outside the Survey Building, where Shah accompanied Adhikari during the filing of his nomination papers. BJP workers raised counter-slogans also.