Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday set a target for the BJP to win 35 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in next year’s elections. He said this was the only way to ensure that the “corrupt didi-bhatija government” did not survive beyond 2025.
Shah was addressing a rally in Birbhum district’s Siuri on his two-day visit to the state, even as the mercury crossed 40 degrees Celsius. The scorching heat mirrored the home minister’s charged dialogue as he promised the people of the state that chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government will not make it beyond 2025 if they voted for the BJP in 2024.
“The only way to remove the ‘didi-bhatija’ government is the BJP. The only way to free Bengal of terror is the BJP. The only way to stop infiltration into Bengal is the BJP… Give us 35 seats in 2024 and Mamata didi’s government will collapse before 2025,” Shah said.
The Trinamool Congress-led government will complete its third term in 2026. The BJP got a big boost in West Bengal as it increased its tally from two seats in the 2014 elections to 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
In the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP turned out to be the TMC’s biggest challenge and won 77 seats in the 294-member state legislative assembly. Its next test is the panchayat elections before it readies itself for a tough fight in 2024.
Political analysts said 35 out of 42 seats was close to 80 percent. But it remains to be seen how the BJP will achieve this target on the ground.
Taking a dig at Mamata, Shah also said the next chief minister will be from the BJP and then there will be no violence on occasions like Ram Navami.
“Mamata didi, you might be dreaming that your nephew will become the CM after you. From here in Birbhum, I say the next CM is going to be from the BJP. The trailer will be 2024 (Lok Sabha elections), and then there will be no violence on Ram Navami,” he said.
‘Those accused of cattle smuggling still enjoying TMC posts’
Experts said Shah wanted to boost party workers’ morale and make them confident enough to fight, so setting a high target will help them work harder. He also showed that the BJP’s supreme players in Delhi know the situation on the ground and, therefore, felt that such a target was needed, they said.
Shah’s speech also reflected that he wanted to show that in the fight for Bengal, the central leadership will be standing shoulder to shoulder with ground workers. Birbhum is the district of prominent leader Anubrata Mondal (Birbhum district chief now behind bars in a cattle smuggling case).
“People who were involved in cattle smuggling are still enjoying posts under the TMC government,” he said, not naming Mondal but since he is still the TMC chief, it was quite clear to whom he was referring.
Shah’s comments drew sharp reactions from the ruling TMC, which asked how he could openly threaten to topple a government in power before it completes its term.
“Shah did not answer the five questions we raised; why has the Centre not given us (the state government) our money? Why has Suvendu (Adhikari), even when his name was there in an FIR, not been questioned? These questions were not answered,” said minister Shashi Panja.
But what is clear from Shah’s visit is that he has set some tough homework for the state unit, ahead of the general elections next year.
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