Poll battle heats up in Bengal as BJP and TMC clash intensifies

BJP National President JP Nadda on Saturday kicked off the 'Parivartan Yatra' and sounded the bugle for the saffron party's campaign for the West Bengal assembly elections. Polls to the 294-member state assembly are due in April-May this year.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the BJP have been trying to grab the attention of voters with their poll promises and by trading punches.

“Wherever I go in Bengal, I see the photos of Pishi (aunt as BJP sarcastically calls Mamata) and Bhaipo (nephew as BJP referrers to her nephew Abhishek Banerjee) with their hands folded. Mamata didi the people of Bengal have decided to say ‘namaste’ to you,” Nadda before the commencement of the roadshow.

Read: Bengal has decided to say goodbye to Mamata, says J P Nadda

Banerjee, in the past, has said that the BJP was a "dangerous party" which has "sold off" the country and that the saffron party needed to look into the mirror before eyeing West Bengal. She also said that no other party can take the TMC's place since it has provided "the most people-friendly government in the world".

With the two parties embroiled in an intense poll fight, let's take a look at how the battle is heating up.

Let there be showers of sops

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that her government has proposed to create 1.5 crore new jobs. In addition to that, 20 lakh houses will be built for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and their dwellings upgraded for which Rs 1,500 crore will be allocated, she said.

Banerjee said Rs 50 crore has been allocated for madrasas recognised by the government but not aided by it.

On the health front, Banerjee said that the Swasthya Sathi card scheme of the state government which provides for cashless health cover, will be renewed every three years and and allocation of Rs 1,500 crore will be set aside for the scheme.

Free rations to people distressed because of Covid-19 will continue even after June 2021 for which Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated, Banerjee added.

She said 100 new schools will be set up in tea gardens of the state besides 100 new English medium schools in areas with concentrated population of SC and ST communities.

On the other end of the spectrum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be dedicating projects worth Rs 4,709 crore to West Bengal during his visit to the state on February 7, said officials of PSUs.

Battle over Bose's legacy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led the charge respectively for the BJP and the TMC on the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji on 23 January.

The two parties have been engaged in a war of words over whether Netaji’s birthday should be celebrated as Parakram Divas as announced by the Centre or as Desh Nayak Divas as declared by the state government. Banerjee, taking a dig at the Centre over the name Parakram Divas, said that the Centre should have consulted those well versed in Bengali before deciding on the name.

Read: Ahead of Bengal polls, BJP, TMC appropriate Netaji’s legacy

While Modi made a last minute addition to his schedule and visited Netaji Bhavan, Netaji’s residence, during his visit, Banerjee invoked another luminary from Bengal — Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. She said that Tagore called Netaji ‘Desh Nayak’ and hence her government decided to celebrate Netaji’s birthday as Desh Nayak Divas.

Banerjee had also refused to speak at a programme at Victoria Memorial in Kolkata when a section of the audience raised the 'Jai Shree Ram’ before her speech in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which gave way to another controversy.

Clash over Citizenship (Amendment) Act, NRC, NPR

Banerjee, while reaching out to the Nadia district's Matua population, had said all refugees will be granted land rights, and no one can banish them from the country. "I want to assure everyone that no one needs to be afraid of the NRC, NPR and CAA," she'd said.

"All refugee colonies in the state have been recognised by the West Bengal government. All refugee families will have land holding rights. We have started the process and several families have already got it."

"No one can remove you from here. You are born here and are citizens of this country. You don't need the BJP's certificate to prove your citizenship," she asserted.

The BJP, on the other hand, appears to be downplaying its stand on CAA as the polls near.

Read: Why is BJP downplaying CAA ahead of West Bengal polls?

"The rules of the CAA are yet to be framed as such a massive process could not be carried out because of the corona. As soon as (Covid) vaccination starts and corona cycle breaks, we will consider it," Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said.

Insider vs outsider

In November last year, dubbed the BJP a “party of outsiders” and said that there was no place in Bengal for such outsiders. She also said that she would never allow Bengal to be turned into Gujarat, plagued with riots.

The leaders of the saffron party had hit out at Banerjee and her ministers but the Banerjee's comment saw Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah tell the state that the BJP would give Bengal a “son of the soil" chief minister.

Read: Is BJP’s ‘son of the soil' CM promise a counter to TMC’s ‘outsider’ jibe in Bengal?

Mamata and her ego

Nadda slammed Banerjee for depriving farmers of the state of the PM Kisan scheme benefits to satisfy her ego.

"Now after realising that the farmers themselves have allowed the scheme she has said she would implement it. The 70 lakh farmers for the last two years have been deprived of annual aid of Rs 6,000," Nadda said.

In retaliation, Banerjee said that the annual assistance to each farming family under the 'Krishak Bandhu Scheme' will be raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.

(With inputs from PTI)