In an apparent bid to dent the woman vote bank of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, much of which hinges on her women-centric schemes, the Bengal BJP too has gone to town (red villages) peddling its patent Annapurna Yojna plan so as to lure the better half of the Bengali society to its fold ahead of 2026 Assembly elections.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on October 27 inaugurated the party’s membership drive in the state. Christened “Amar Poribar, BJP Poribar (My Family, BJP family),” the special drive aims at netting one crore members by the year end.

In fact party state president and Union Minister Sukanto Majumdar in an organisational meeting in Burdwan asked the cadres to explain to the homemakers the Rs 3,000 scheme under Annapurna Yojna prompting the TMC leaders to ask if he had already forgotten the oath of office administered by the President when he became a Union minister.

Majumdar asked the workers to “go to people and ask them to be BJP members… if they ask why... Tell them that bringing BJP means bringing Narendra Modi to office… and if that happens in Bengal then women would be able to get the benefit of Annapurna Yojna.” He also asked the workers to fill up the BJP’s membership form so as to become the beneficiaries of the Annapurna Yojana that entailed a monthly receipt of Rs 3,000.

Accordingly, the subaltern BJP leaders have instructed their foot soldiers to go house-to-house promising Rs 3,000 under Annapurna Yojna should they join the saffron party, insiders said.

Incidentally a similar campaign was made by State Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari in 2023 Panchayat elections  –  albeit with a limited success  –  when he said that if BJP came to office, they would implement Annapurna Yojna in Bengal, providing Rs 3,000 per month to each beneficiary.

To feed a cash and industry-starvedstate Mamata Banerjee had quite successfully introduced a “dole politics” in Bengal through what she called “janomukhi” (pro-people) schemes – like Kanyashree, Rupashree and not least Laxmir Bhandar – reaping rich electoral harvests in successive years, said political analyst BN Chakraborty.

The BJP expects that its proposal to offer thrice the amount paid by the TMC government via Laxmir Bhandar could be its trump card. TMC government directly transfers Rs 1,000 – which was earlier Rs 500  –  to the bank accounts of eligible women.

Apart from Laxmir Bhandar, Mamata Banerjee runs a highly popular scheme called Kanyashree aimed at disincentivising marriage till at least the age of 18 by offering scholarships to the girls. To match Kanyashree the Chief Minister has also devised Rupashree for women who have come of age by providing them a one-time grant of Rs 25,000 during marriage.

Though the BJP used the Annapurna Yojna during electoral campaign during 2023 panchayat elections the reintroduction of it in the present time could well be a game changer for the party insiders say.

“The chain of sexual offences against women in the aftermath of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder case has sullied the image the Chief Minister particularly among the

women … now the only reason of her survival among the women is the Laxmir Bhandar and other schemes … if a better scheme can be offered to them then there is no reason why the

women will not listen to us … and remember the BJP needs only about 10 percent votes to swing in its favour,” said a State committee member requesting anonymity in view of criticism that Majumdar’s statement on Annapurna Yojna has invited.

Referring to Majumdar’s statement TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the BJP was one party that never fulfilled its promises. “They called it Rewri politics earlier on and now they are

imitating Mamata Banerjee … this is a shame … besides to reach out to the people they have to have an organisation which they lack completely in Bengal … even the Left has a better organisation than them … the BJP only wins seats by creating mass frenzy and communal divide

… they can never come to power in Bengal,” the TMC leader said.