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The TMC on Tuesday started its much-touted mass outreach campaign ahead of the panchayat polls in West Bengal, with party leader Abhishek Banerjee asserting that the next elections in the state will be held over the issue of development and not the “communal” narrative pushed by the BJP.
Banerjee, considered number two in the TMC, said the campaign ‘Trinamool-ey Nabajowar’ (new wave in Trinamool) would empower people to choose their own candidates through a secret ballot, whom the party would give nominations in the panchayat polls.
“I urge people to vote on the issue of development and progress and not on the issue of religion and division created by other parties. In the coming panchayat election, votes should not be in the name of religion, Balakot, or PM Modi’s 56-inch chest,” he said while launching the programme from Dinhata in Cooch Behar district.
The BJP has made deep inroads in several regions of the northern part of West Bengal, especially Cooch Behar district.
“The TMC aims at building people’s panchayat in the state. It should be for the future of your children and their development. The vote should reflect your decision to teach a lesson to those who have kept Bengal’s funds due,” he said in his first rally of the day.
The ruling party of West Bengal has repeatedly accused the BJP-led central government of withholding funds for schemes like MGNRGA and PM Awas Yojna which are due to the state.
The Trinamool Congress national general secretary wondered whether voting on religious sentiment will address people’s basic needs.
“Those who had voted for the BJP in 2019 (Lok Sabha polls), did you vote on the issues of jobs, houses and food? In 2019, people voted on religion, and now we see riots nationwide. Now you can see people are being murdered on live television. People have the last word in democracy,” Banerjee said.
He said that in the next two months, he will be staying on the streets and travelling more than 3500 km – from Cooch Behar in the northern part of the state to Kakdwip in the southern.
“I have come here to be with the people for the next two months. I have left my family, house, and friends behind for this purpose. The ruling party never hits the roads, but we have done this as we care for the people. I have come here to ask for your preferences on the candidates for the upcoming rural polls,” he said.
The two-time MP, who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, commenced the mass outreach campaign from a temple in the Dinhata Lok Sabha constituency.
“In 2019, people who voted for the BJP thought they would experience ‘Achche Din’. However, this did not happen. The MP here is a BJP member and a Union minister. But he hasn’t done anything for the people of this region,” he said while addressing his second rally at Sitai.
Banerjee accused the BSF of letting loose a reign of terror along the border of the state.
“A few months back, the BSF shot dead a local and branded him a cattle smuggler. They could have arrested him. This is happening as the local MP is from the BJP. Had the local MP been from our party, we would have never allowed it,” he said.
In December last year, the BSF gunned down a 24-year-old man, Prem Kumar Barman, in the district’s Dinhata block near the India-Bangladesh border. The family had asserted that he was a migrant labourer.
Meanwhile, the inaugural day of the campaign was marred by ruckus as infighting within the TMC came out in the open over the process of secret ballot voting, and two groups came down to blows during the event.
Miffed over the incident, Banerjee said the secret voting process would be conducted again on Wednesday and cautioned that if some people think they can hijack the process of candidate selection through muscle power, “They are living in a fool’s paradise”.
On Wednesday, he will travel to Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district and conduct the mass outreach programme.
Reacting to TMC’s campaign, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the entire exercise is a “futile attempt” to divert the attention of the people.
“The TMC is trying new tricks every day. It is an attempt to divert attention from the graft cases that have led to the arrest of its leaders and ministers,” he said.
The TMC has undertaken the programme at a time when it is facing various corruption charges, and the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have arrested several of its leaders.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
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