After the Bihar experience, the BJP is likely to refrain from overexposure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the West Bengal elections. A party leader said Modi will not address more than 10 rallies in the multi-phased election in the state and so far only seven have been planned.
At the same time, the BJP may not have a chief ministerial candidate in the state and will fight the election projecting the Prime Minister, the leader said. Modi had held around 30 rallies in the Bihar election last year.
Modi will be attending a function in Kolkata on February 21 at the Goudiya Muth, a Hindu muth that was set up to spread the teachings of Saint Chaitanya. BJP sources said that when Modi honours the saint, there would be an unsaid message of reaching out to sects like Goudiya Muth and Ramakrishna mission, a humanitarian organisation founded by Vivekananda. While the Goudiya Muth has 75 lakh followers, the Ramakrishna Mission has one crore.
The sources said these spiritual missions are peeved with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s “minority appeasement”, which the BJP would counter with its subtle message and a non-aggressive campaign.
The BJP is of the view that the CPM was also toeing the same line as TMC of reaching out to minorities by projecting party MP Mohammad Salim. A party leader said this “double impact of both Left and TMC playing minority politics” would give an advantage to the BJP, which is counting on the anti-Left voters who are disillusioned with the Trinamool Congress.
While the party is pinning its hopes on what it sees as a disillusionment in the state with both the TMC and CPM, the BJP is banking heavily on the election commission ensuring there would be no booth capturing in the state. According to EC sources, presiding officers during the elections would be from central forces and not the state to ensure free and fair election in the state.
The BJP sees more traction for the party in rural areas where the law and order problem is acute, sources said. Taking on Banerjee, the party is focusing on law and order, opium farming, fake currency, women’s security, unemployment and minority appeasement with slogans like “parivartan ya patan? (change or decline?)” and “ma, mati, manus theeno surakshit nahi (mother, soil, people- all three are unsafe”).
BJP sources said the party would take a positive approach in its campaign by spelling out solutions to problems while castigating the TMC and Left. It would also cash in heavily on social media in the state, where of the six crore voters, one crore have smart phones and 3.7 crore have mobile phones.
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