Kolkata: All eyes are on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to West Bengal's Cooch Behar where he will kickstart BJP’s poll campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in the state on Thursday.
Cooch Behar is in for a heady electioneering as the constituency looks set to witness back-to-back rallies by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee is scheduled to speak at a rally in Cooch Behar around noon, while the PM will address a mega rally at Rasleela ground around 3pm, the venues being 30km apart.
The question on everyone’s mind is if the BJP will be able to replicate its 2019 margin in north Bengal, considered a stronghold of the saffron party, or has Trinamool Congress penetrated deep enough to shake the BJP citadel?
The Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency has recently become the theatre of clashes between supporters of sitting BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik and TMC leader and Minister Udayan Guha.
A saffron stronghold
The constituency has now become a battleground of prestige, with both parties leaving no stone unturned to secure victory. Renominated as a Lok Sabha candidate, Pramanik faces Jagadish Barma Basunia, the TMC’s candidate representing the Rajbanshi community and the sitting MLA of Sitai, as his primary opponent this time.
“People of Cooch Behar are firmly with the BJP, and this will be reflected in the poll results on June 4. The development initiatives undertaken by the BJP MP and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre will ensure a second consecutive term victory for the saffron party,” BJP state general secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay said.
Will TMC's groundwork pay dividends this time?
Over the past two years, TMC did everything to outdo the BJP with a lot of groundwork and launched popular schemes benefiting the poor. Mamata Banerjee, who has set her eyes in the area for quite some time. Right from monitoring the relief work following a massive storm that hit Jalpaiguri to talking to tea garden workers and villagers in road-side tea stalls, Banerjee has gone for a desperate outreach.
Her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is also strategising the plans to restore Cooch Behar, once a stronghold of Left Front partner Forward Bloc, which held the seat for an uninterrupted 32 years from 1977 to 2009.
The Cooch Behar constituency currently remains a BJP stronghold, with the party securing five of the seven assembly segments despite TMC’s significant victory in the 2021 state polls. The sitting MP Nisith Pramanik is also a minister in the Narendra Modi government.
TMC's narrative to counter BJP
In contrast, the TMC asserts that the people of Cooch Behar are desperately seeking relief from the 'Goondaraj' (rule of hooligans) of the BJP-ruled Centre. “The people of Cooch Behar are wary of the BJP and its elected representatives. This sentiment will be evident in the polls, and we are confident of winning the seat with a substantial margin,” said Udayan Guha, who also serves as the North Bengal Development Minister.
The TMC had previously won the seat in 2014 and 2016 during a by-election following the demise of incumbent MP Renuka Sinha. The seat will go to polls on April 19 in the first phase. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee expects the PM to provide a white paper detailing the funds allocated to West Bengal under Awas Yojna and MGNREGA since 2021 during the rally.
“I expect him to furnish details or a white paper regarding the funds disbursed to Bengal under Awas Yojna and MGNREGA from 2021, following their defeat in the assembly polls here,” he said.
Dinhata, home to both Pramanik and Guha, has remained a hotspot of political violence over the years, with both leaders, who are at odds with each other, striving to maintain dominance on their home turf.
The clashes at Dinhata Bazar on March 19, involving supporters of both sides, which reportedly dragged both leaders into the altercation, led to police intervention and prompted Governor CV Ananda Bose to visit the site of violence.
The April 4 rally in Cooch Behar will be Modi’s first rally in the state after the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election Commission on March 16. Before the EC’s announcement, the PM had addressed four rallies in West Bengal, the first at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the second at Krishnagar in Nadia district, the third at Barasat in North 24 Parganas, and the fourth one at Siliguri in Darjeeling district from March 1 to 9. (With agency inputs)
