Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday walked with thousands at three locations in North Dinajpur, apparently part of a larger strategy to consolidate minority support.
The district, with a minority population of around 49 per cent, had once been a Congress bastion. It was also part of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Monday.
However, Krishna Kalyani, the Raiganj MLA who had won on a BJP ticket but later defected to Trinamul, pointed out that Trinamul did "exceptionally well" in the 2021 Assembly polls in North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad.
In 2021, Trinamul won seven of nine seats in North Dinajpur, eight out of 12 in Malda and 20 out of 22 in Murshidabad. Malda has a minority population of 55 per cent and Murshidabad 67 per cent.
“We are making arrangements to make her visit successful in these districts. Tuesday’s response in Chopra, Islampur and Raiganj must have sent a message to the Congress that its claim of having support in parts of north Bengal doesn’t stand,” said Arindam Sarkar, a district Trinamul leader.
On Tuesday morning, Mamata took a chopper from Uttarkanya, the state’s branch secretariat near Siliguri, to North Dinajpur's Chopra, and walked on NH27 with party leaders and workers as thousands crowded on the road. Slogans like “Didi tumi egiye cholo, amra tomar sathe achhi” (Didi you march on, we are with you) rent the air.
Trinamul flags fluttered as she greeted people. She walked 1.5km and got into her car to head for Islampur.
Many Trinamul supporters said they had on Monday come for a glimpse of Rahul, but "are with Didi".
At Islampur, she walked 1.5km, paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, cuddling children and clicking selfies with schoolgirls.
Mamata flew to Raiganj to walk for 2km to reach the stadium for a public service distribution event. She then flew to Balurghat.
Observers said Mamata, upset with the Congress for not accepting her seat-sharing suggestions, proved her clout by walking on the home turf of late Congress stalwart Priya Ranjan Das Munshi a day after Rahul's Yatra.
