Kolkata: When it comes to votes, brand 'Modi' sells better than anything in India. Hence is the ploy of the BJP to launch the party's political campaign in West Bengal's Arambagh and Krishnanagar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on March 1-2.
The choice of seats (Arambagh and Krishnangar) seems to be a well-thought-out one considering the trend and the wind with the general elections around the corner.
As far as Arambagh is concerned, it was a sort of fortress for the then ruling party CPIM since 1971. Barring 1977 (when Prafulla Chandra Sen won on a BLD ticket), the red bastion was intact till 2009 with Anil Basu winning in style for seven consecutive times from the Arambagh parliamentary constituency.
With the change of guard in the state, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress snatched the seat via Aparupa Poddar, who won twice in succession (2014 and 2019). But Aparupa's 1142-vote margin in 2019 gave food for thought to the state's opposition BJP. Perhaps the saffron brigade is trying to pip Trinamool this time by bridging the thin gap it conceded last time.
Since 2014, the BJP has been frantically trying to channel the Modi magic into the polls. Be it Lok Sabha or Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained the face of BJP in every election and in every state. There is no exception this time too. Modi has already started meetings and rallies in different parts of the country. Now it is turn for West Bengal. His meeting will be held at Arambagh in Hooghly on Friday followed by a meeting in Krishnanagar in Nadia.
PM Modi will again be in the state in a gap of few days. The Prime Minister is set to attend the women's rally at Barasat in North 24 Parganas on Women's Day on March 8. In the build-up to the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls, intense lobbying has started in the political circles of West Bengal about the choice of the place for the three planned programmes of the Prime Minister. Discussions have been going on for the past few days as to why these three places were chosen for Modi's meeting in the first place.
However, all three programmes of the Prime Minister are official. His party BJP has nothing to do with it. But the political circles of West Bengal are looking at the selection of meeting place. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting at Arambagh's Kalipur Maidan on Friday (March 1) is at 2:50 PM. That place falls within the Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency. The standing parliamentarian there is Aparupa Poddar of Trinamool Congress. But in 2019 she defeated the BJP candidate by just 1142 votes.
As a result, BJP lost that seat by a proverbial whisker. After that defeat, allegations of vote rigging flew thick and fast against the ruling Trinamool Congress.
After the 2021 assembly election results were out, the BJP won four of the seven assembly seats (including six in Hooghly and one in West Midnapore) within the Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency.
Moreover, BJP has done well in the panchayat polls last year in the region. A Panchayat Samiti (Khanakul No. 2 Panchayat Samiti) in Arambagh was captured by the BJP. And in total, 9 gram panchayats have formed BJP board. BJP has two members in Hooghly Zilla Parishad. One of them is the Khanakul MLA.
As a result, Arambagh, once known as a stronghold of the Left, especially the CPM, has slowly converted into a saffron brigade by now. According to political circles, a large chunk of votes switched from Left to the BJP. Now, BJP is desperate to snatch the Arambagh seat from the Trinamool by capitalising on that. Therefore, the saffron camp is trying to galvanize the party workers-supporters by using Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit as a tool in the run-up to the polls.
Following this, the Prime Minister will hold another meeting at the Government College ground in Krishnanagar in Nadia on the very next day. Political circles believe that outspoken MP Mahua Moitra is the main reason for choosing Krishnanagar as Modi's meeting venue. Mahua has been seen repeatedly coming out against Modi inside and outside the Sansad Bhavan.
Accused of corruption, Mahua was expelled from the Lok Sabha on the charge of asking questions for money. On the same day, she claimed that she was expelled for speaking against Modi. After this, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee made it clear that Mahua Moitra will again be fielded from Krishnanagar. BJP wants to pounce with all its might to defeat Mahua there.
Like Arambagh, Krishnanagar has always been known as the Left bastion. Only from 1999 to 2004, Satyabrata Mookherjee of BJP snatched the seat. In 2004, the BJP again conceded as Mookherjee lost by just 2 percent of the vote. In 2009, BJP's vote percentage dipped to 16. However, in 2014, the saffron camp increased its vote by 10 percent though it wasn't enough. Mahua Moitra got 43 percent votes in 2019 while BJP candidate and current All India Football Federation president Kalyan Choubey got 39 percent votes.
According to political circles, BJP has always had public support in Krishnanagar. Sometimes it dropped, sometimes it rose. In 2021, however, the BJP won only one seat out of the seven assembly constituencies — Tehatta.
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