It was a rare sight. Experienced political correspondents found it hard to remember if they had ever seen such a thing in a political rally. Instead of a slogan, the main podium of a high profile political meeting was flaunting a telephone number along with the statement, “Give a missed call on this number and become a member of BJP.”

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At the end of Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah’s rally in Kolkata on November 30, top party functionaries were upbeat that the missed call service had managed to fetch nearly two lakh members.

The flaunting of the telephone number had a strong political significance. First, it reflected the mood of Bengal’s BJP leaders who are eyeing a chunk of the vote bank in their favour. Second, at the same time, it depicted the state of BJP’s organisational prowess, desperately seeking to inflate their party base.

Amit Shah’s rally in front of the Victoria House became significant for other reasons, too. It was a prestige fight for the party in many ways. That zone in front of the Victoria House, in the central business district of the city, has been West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s favourite spot for many years to host her party’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally on July 21. These rallies register huge turnouts and the BJP had to take up the challenge to outnumber rallies of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). When the state administration made the blunder of refusing permission for Shah's rally, the BJP was smart enough to secure it through a court order. The result: a mammoth BJP rally at the spot on the scheduled day.

Many observers who followed the proceedings of the rally had reason to believe that the BJP’s march towards its goal in Bengal had just begun. It was also clear from messages of the top leadership. The BJP president made no bones about what he wanted from Bengal in the next two years, which are important years for West Bengal. While the Kolkata Municipal Corporation board will go to polls next year, the assembly election is slated to take place in 2016. BJP's top leaders clearly spelt out their plans for the next two years in the rally. Siddharth Nath Singh was categorical when he said, “In 2015, it will be bhag Mukul bhag” referring to the second most important leader of the TMC and its all India General Secretary, Mukul Roy. Singh continued, “In 2016, it will be bhag Mamata bhag.”

Amit Shah was less explosive, yet, asserted how he wished to win Bengal desperately after he had won Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. “I want Bengal,” he said.

Political rhetoric notwithstanding, the BJP’s message was assertive: “We mean business.” The response from the rally was enough to inject hope among the state BJP leaders. If the state of affairs in West Bengal these days is any indication, the BJP is all set to give a hard time to the ruling party. Some of the rural areas are witnessing a silent revolution. Hundreds of the villagers are joining the BJP ranks, much to the chagrin of the ruling party. The CPI(M) is no longer a potent force and many of its supporters, who could not switch over to the Trinamool Congress, have joined the queue for a BJP membership. The reason, just like most areas in the state, is not a complicated one – every one in every village, requires political shelter and if the main opposition CPI(M) cannot provide it, the anti-government sentiments are likely to ally with the most potent political force. The BJP, for most of them, is now providing the ideal platform.

The Parui area in Birbhum district, is an ideal example. The locality has been a hotbed of political violence for the past few months. The violence has recorded murders and numerous injuries after the TMC and BJP supporters clashed against each other. Birbhum was earlier a Left Front bastion till the TMC flowers bloomed in the district after the 2011 assembly elections.

Apart from Parui, there are surprising developments in other corners, too. In many places, hundreds of Muslims are joining the BJP, much to the happiness of the BJP leadership. For these minority dominated areas, atrocities of the ruling party-backed hooligans have gone beyond tolerable levels and there is no other choice but to join the party of the future.

If the current political scenario in West Bengal is any indication, this politically volatile state is all set to witness some intense battles to gain supremacy of a region. BJP does not have any organisational power in most of the districts and has to bank on deserters from either the CPI(M) or the Congress. Their base is weak and political might, even weaker. But it is banking on the newfound enthusiasm in certain areas.

The top guns of the ruling party are aware of the developments and have asked its district level workers to strengthen the political activities and prevent the BJP chariot. Predictably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in most of her public meetings, has been increasing her noise levels of her tirade against the saffron brigade. She strongly feels that the Union Government has been deliberately trying to implicate her party leaders falsely in the Saradha scam.

In the midst of this political duel, speculations are doing the rounds about whether political compulsions will bring Mamata Banerjee and the Congress closer once again. Or, if need be, whether the TMC will start joint movements with the Left on the issue of secularism.

(Anirban Choudhury is Editor, 24 Ghanta )