BJP's 'five Brahmastra' helped it breach TMC fortress in West Bengal

New Delhi: The BJP's strategy of raising issues of governance, alleged syndicate raj, corruption and infiltration resonated with the masses in West Bengal, while it refrained from being dragged into any personal attacks on the rival leadership, party sources said on Tuesday.

Home Minister Amit Shah's "micromanagement" especially helped the BJP breach the TMC fortress as it won nearly 50 per cent seats even in areas with a large Muslim population, they said.

The BJP recorded a landslide victory in the just-concluded state assembly polls, bagging 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, ending the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC's 15-year-old rule.

The sources said the party deployed "five brahmastra" including crushing the TMC's "false narrative" against the BJP on the issues of cultural identity and non-vegetarian food.

The party also focussed a lot on issues of women's safety and honour, and action against infiltrators.

"The micromanagement of very activity by top leadership and the workers' unrelenting outreach across the state were the other brahmastra," a source said.

The BJP sources noted many of the seats it won this time were considered as “impregnable fortress” of the TMC.

The party sources attributed the BJP’s stellar performance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision”, Shah’s “infallible poll strategy and management” and people’s “aspiration for change”.

“During the elections, while the TMC was crafting the 'Khela Hobe' narrative, the master strategist, Shah, made a bold prediction with great confidence. He clearly stated that out of the total 152 seats in the first phase, the BJP was poised to register a resounding victory in more than 110 seats,” the source in the party said.

“The opposition dismissed this merely as an electoral claim. However, when the results came, Shah's grassroots-level booth management and political foresight proved to be 100 per cent accurate,” the source added.

Citing data, the source said that out of the 152 seats in the first phase, the BJP won 117 seats, making the electoral trajectory decisively clear in its favour right from the very first round of polling.

In the second phase as well, the BJP achieved a historic surge, jumping straight to 90 seats, a significant leap compared to its tally of just 18 seats in 2021, the source added.

“It’s a one-sided mandate. The BJP achieved a spectacular surge of 130 seats by increasing its vote share by over 7 per cent.

"Snatching away 62 per cent of the seats (74 seats) of the 119 constituencies that the TMC had continuously held for the past 15 years, the BJP provided irrefutable proof of its unstoppable wave,” the BJP source said.

Of the 162 seats where the TMC had held ground for the last 10 years, the BJP registered a resounding victory in 102 seats, the source added.

Party sources said the most “compelling proof” of the success of the BJP's poll strategy came from the districts with a significant population of Muslims.

In North 24 Pargana, South 24 Pargana, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur districts, where the Muslim population ranges from 26 per cent to 66 per cent, the BJP won 56 seats out of a total 118, increasing its tally from 14 seats in 2021, sources said.

The sources said the BJP also made a clean sweep in ten districts of West Bengal, pushing the rival TMC to zero.

In its stronghold in North Bengal, the BJP won nine seats in Cooch Behar, seven in Jalpaiguri, five in Darjeeling, five in Alipore, and one in Kalimpong.

The party won 16 seats in Purba Medinipur, nine in Purulia and four in Jhargram in South Bengal, they said.

“Sensing the people’s mood during the poll campaign, Prime Minister Modi had predicted that the TMC would fail to even open its account in several districts. The people of Bengal validated this prediction,” the source in the party said.

Sources said the BJP’s poll campaign and strategy gained strength with Shah camping in West Bengal for 15 days.

His presence and guidance “motivated and energised” the party workers who reached out to every single voter across 80,000 booths, they added.