The CPM’s Durgapur zonal committee has drawn up a questionnaire for voters in parts of the industrial town so that the party can build a campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The red brigade is throwing up questions such as whether the respondent has received Rs 15 lakh in his bank account or whether the price of petrol products has come down.
Sources said there was no doubt that the answers were known to them but the attempt was a “marketing stunt” of the CPM to get first-hand feedback from the electorate.
“On every occasion, CPM leaders criticise Modi’s Achhe Din (good days) slogan, the BJP-led government’s failure to bring back unaccounted money and deposit Rs 15 lakh in each citizen’s bank account and other mumbo jumbo promises. Now they are trying to know whether voters, too, are of the same opinion. It is basically a marketing stunt,” said a CPM insider.
Speaking about the move, a CPM leader in Durgapur said: “A good lawyer only asks questions whose answers he is aware of.”
According to CPM leaders in Durgapur, 600 young party workers have been pressed into the mission to get answers to the questions. (See chart)
Not just Modi, the questionnaire — titled Asli Baat (The Real Story) — also aims at drilling holes into the claims made by Mamata.
The exercise began on Saturday with party workers going door-to-door to give the questionnaire to households. They will return to those houses about a week later to collect the answers.
“Modi made a lot of promises before coming to power. Then, in the last four years, he has also made a lot of claims. The replies to the questionnaire will give us a first-hand feedback on what people feel about the promises and claims,” said Pankaj Roy Sarkar, the secretary of the CPM’s Durgapur East zonal committee.
According to him, as part of the exercise, they will be covering altogether 45km over the next five days to reach out to about 35,000 voters living in six municipal wards of Durgapur.
A CPM insider said there were questions on whether the respondent had received digital ration card or whether industrial situation in Bengal had improved.
All questions, except the 12th one, have three options — yes, no and not applicable.
Copies of the respondents’ photo ID cards and their contact details will also be collected during the exercise.
After getting the replies, the CPM leadership plans to collate the responses and publish the results in a tabular form.
However, the identities of the respondents will not be revealed, CPM sources said.
In view of the cosmopolitan nature of Durgapur, the questionnaire has been printed both in Hindi and Bengali.
On Day Two of the exercise, the CPM insiders said the voters’ response appeared to be “positive” as they showed eagerness to fill up the forms.
“Most of the promises made by political leaders only remain on paper. The bid to document how the promises have gone awry is interesting. I also want to know what other people think about the claims or promises,” said a senior employee of DSP after filling up the form.
A CPM source said the respondents vented their ire while accepting the questionnaire. “Given the cosmopolitan nature of Durgapur, the replies can actually capture the mood of the people in the country. The findings will help any political party draw up its campaign strategy for the next year Lok Sabha polls,” said a political scientist, who appreciated the attempt.
The CPM had tried to involve local people ahead of the civic polls in Durgapur in May last year in the nomination process and invited suggestions of the residents while drawing up the poll manifesto.
Bid to grab the real story
Questions prepared by the CPM
1 Was Rs 15 lakh deposited in your bank account as per the promise?
2 Was petrol price reduced?
3 Did unemployed youths in your family get central or state government jobs in the past five years?
4 Was the price of kerosene reduced?
5 Were electricity charges reduced?
6 Did all your family members receive digital ration cards?
7 Was interest of MIS in banks and post-offices increased?
8 Did any new industry come up in Durgapur in the past seven years?
9 Was democratic right secure in the last civic polls in Durgapur town?
10 Are pensions for widows, old aged and handicapped persons being given regularly?
11 Are you getting proper service at the government and ESI hospitals?
12 Rank four issues — temple/mosque, reduction in prices of essential items, safety of women, and industrialisation and job creation — in terms of priority