Mamata Banerjee has helped BJP strengthen its base in Bengal, so as to divide the Opposition vote and multiply Trinamool Congress’ invincibility, a report prepared by the Congress Party says. The report prepared by the Youth Congress is likely to be presented before the State committee. It says that the Trinamool Congress has intentionally helped the BJP to expand base in parts of Bengal where the Congress had its area of dominance.
These districts are Malda, Murshidabad, two Dinajpurs and even parts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling. The Congress currently has two MPs each from Malda and Murshidabad. In North Dinajpur its candidate Deepa Dasmunshi lost out to the left Front’s Muhammad Salim in 2014 by a mere 1,400 votes. The Congress had its MlA in Jalpaiguri town.
According to State Youth Congress president Al Beruni the BJP’s meteoric rise as the principal Opposition outfit in these districts — particularly Malda, Murshidabad and the two Dinajpurs — can only be explained in terms of a “tactical help” from the ruling party. The Congress leader said in 2016 the BJP won two seats with the help of BJP. While in Kharagpur the TMC workers directly worked and voted for the BJP in North 24 Parganas the Trinamool created a situation to polarize vote in favour of the BJP.
“Considering the fact that BJP can never win even in a highly polarized atmosphere because the left will never shed its vote below 17-18 percent and the Congress below 10 percent — jointly making their vote share to some 28 percent — it is safe for the Trinamool to prop BJP in minority dominated areas so as to create a communally charged atmosphere where the Congress loses its minority votes to the Trinamool,” says another PCC leader. Congress’ Manoj Bhattacharya says Mamata Banerjee’s public speeches for a common platform are all hoax. “BJP’s existence in Bengal is in her interest so that she can consolidate the minority vote bank of about 30 per cent.”
CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakrabarty says Mamata Banerjee has communally broken Bengal by propping the BJP. His party colleague and MlA Tanmoy Bhattacharya says during the left regime there were few Shakhas of RSS in Bengal. But during Mamata rule those Shakhas had multiplied in number.
“This has been done to help the BJP’s rise and scare the minorities into collecting behind her he says adding “the real issues of wages, labour, employment, farming etc have been forgotten.”