Trinamul Congress leaders in various south Bengal districts have started appointing “sources”, especially in rural areas, to get accurate information on the BJP and the actual extent of its growth.
The ruling party used to depend on local units for reports on the political opponents, but “misinformation” about the scope of the BJP’s threat ahead of the Lok Sabha polls seemed to have prompted the leaders to bank on the informants.
The “sources”, said Trinamul leaders, will be chosen from apolitical and educated youths or trusted faces in the party’s youth or student wings. The leaders said being comfortable with the use of smartphones and the social media would be an important criterion for the selection.
The Trinamul leaderships in Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia districts have already started working to depute at least two people for every gram panchayat to gather information about the BJP. The informants will be remunerated and rewarded for good performance, said leaders.
The sources, they said, would be asked to report to senior district leaders about the underground activities of the BJP in rural belts. Several Trinamul leaders said till the recent general election, they had largely been depending on the inputs from the party functionaries at the block and gram panchayat levels for information on rival parties. They said the top-tier leadership in Calcutta was displeased with the inaccuracy of the information it had received about the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls.
“In hindsight, most had tried to downplay the significance and extent of the BJP’s growth. They did not want to risk telling the bitter truth. But that is what we need now before the Assembly polls,” said a senior leader.
The BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, over 40 per cent of the vote share and led in 121 of the 294 Assembly segments.
“Several local leaders misled us regarding the growth and activities of the BJP in pockets of the districts. For instance, in Birbhum, leaders from areas like Suri, Dubrajpur and Rampurhat informed us that Trinamul would secure huge leads. But it was the BJP that got leads,” said a senior Birbhum leader of Trinamul.
“It is high time we deployed these sources, besides the network of party leaders. The sources will work just as underground intelligence for us,” he added.
The sources will be told to extensively photograph and videograph public programmes of the BJP with a special focus on the crowds.
“We have already deputed a dozen sources in our district. They will inform us about the BJP’s rallies or meeting with photographs and videos. We will, on the basis of their feedback, organise party meetings or processions in those areas,” said Abhijit Sinha, a Trinamul vice-president in Birbhum and close aide to Anubrata Mondal.
Trinamul leaders in Bankura said there were several gram panchayats in blocks like Onda, Taldangra and Bishnupur, where the chiefs and deputy chiefs have disappeared after the BJP won both Lok Sabha seats in the district.
“In our area, we have also recruited sources for information on the activities of rural leaders and gram panchayat functionaries,” said minister Shyamal Santra from Bishnupur.
Trinamul leaders in Purulia said their “sources” had also been told to look for those who allegedly sabotaged the elections from within the ruling party.
Nabendu Mahali, Trinamul general-secretary in Purulia, said: “We need to identify the insiders who sabotged us. We have deputed our sources to find them out.”
The BJP leadership in the districts, however, mocked the exercise.
“Too little, too late. Nobody can save Trinamul from ruin now…. These so-called sources should have been appointed years ago, if at all,” said Ramkrishna Roy, the Birbhum unit chief of the BJP.
