Rahul Gandhi will on Wednesday begin campaigning in Bengal at a time the majority of Congress leaders are said to be praying that Mamata Banerjee succeeds in warding off the stiff challenge posed to her by the BJP.

Rahul will address rallies at Matigara-Naxalbari in Darjeeling and Goalpokhar in North Dinajpur.

Most Congress leaders view Rahul’s intervention as a mere formality, given that secular forces all over the country don’t want to harm Mamata’s chances.

Although many Congress leaders see the Trinamul Congress emerging as a strong contender for leadership in the Opposition camp if she wins a third term, they believe dealing with her is significantly better than the BJP in Bengal.

Top Congress functionaries privately admit that the limited involvement of the central leadership in Bengal is a calculated political strategy.

It is indisputable that Sonia Gandhi considers Mamata an important ally in the larger battle against Narendra Modi in national politics. Sonia’s bonhomie with the Bengal chief minister had been evident at a meeting to discuss Covid-19 strategy with Opposition leaders earlier this year.

A senior Congress office-bearer told The Telegraph: “We certainly don’t want to disturb Mamata at this juncture. We have our differences and our local unit is fighting her but that doesn’t affect the national perspective. Mamata remains a valuable asset for the 2024 battle and you should not be surprised if Rahul’s attack is concentrated on the BJP.”

All senior Congress leaders have avoided attacking Mamata in the last couple of months.

While most leaders have been critical of the BJP’s polarising tactics in Bengal and the exceptional involvement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah in the Assembly elections, Former finance minister P. Chidambaram’s tweets a few days ago clearly revealed the Congress’s mind.

“The polarisation of society that is taking place in Bengal, thanks to the BJP, is the gravest tragedy that has befallen that state. I cannot believe that the land of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Raja Rammohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose, Satyajit Ray and Dr B.C. Roy can fall prey to the virus of communalism. Anyone who claims the legacy of these great leaders — as I proudly do — should shun and fight communalism,” Chidambaram had said.

EC ‘bias’

Trinamul leader and former BJP finance minister Yashwant Sinha has said the Election Commission’s impartiality has been compromised.

In an article in a news portal, Sinha wrote: “…The words she (Mamata) spoke are far less objectionable than the utterances of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. What happens when the Prime Minister goes to the neighbouring country of Bangladesh in the midst of elections and visits a shrine and temple of a certain community, returns to India, and openly tells that community in Bengal of his exploits in Bangladesh? Is he not openly and unabashedly asking for their votes on the basis of caste?”

Sinha added: “The ‘Jai Sri Ram’ invocation is a purely religious slogan which is freely used in election rallies by the BJP leaders to rouse the masses in order to garner their votes. Does it not amount to inciting religious sentiment?… The Prime Minister and Home Minister openly incite the people to punish the TMC because it is encouraging minority communalism.

“Are they not, by making this charge, openly asking the majority community to vote for it?

“In the road shows of the Home Minister and other BJP leaders, people dressed as Hindu gods and goddesses can be clearly seen. Is that not asking for votes in the name of a particular religion? Or is it that these people are too high and mighty for the Election Commission to even consider suitable action against them?”