“Do not spend your time daydreaming.” This was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Modi, who was addressing a huge rally in West Bengal's Midnapore, said the West Bengal chief minister was daydreaming if she thought that her government would last as many years as the Left front did in the state. "I am telling didi not to dream that it would take so many years for us to defeat her,” the prime minister said. Modi's visit to the state is seen as a prelude to his 'Bengal mission'.
Interestingly, unlike in the past, BJP's mission for Bengal has started not from Kolkata but from a rural area in the state. And this is no good news for the ruling party in the state as the BJP, like everywhere else, is seen as a middle-class friendly party by the people of West Bengal. Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura were districts where the BJP almost defeated Trinamool Congress in the last panchyat elections held in June.
There was a stamped like situation at the rally as more than one lakh people were gathered to hear the prime minister speak. At least 20 people were injured after a bamboo fence collapsed minutes after Modi stood up to address the crowd.
The prime minister asked SPG officers to use the prime minister's ambulance to rush the people injured in his rally. Later he visited Midnapore hospital to see them.
Modi, however, was not at his eloquent best. He paused several times while delivering his speech. He sipped water occasionally and was seen looking through his notes although teleprompters were in place.
The dais too looked bare minimum. Except for party's Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and Midnapore region in-charge Suresh Pujari (a firebrand Odisha leader), none of the central leaders were present at the meeting.
Though Modi started his speech with his "historic decision" of increasing minimum support price (MSP) and how that Bengal's rice, jute and potato farmers would benefit from the move, he soon switched to Mamata bashing. He lambasted the West Bengal government for running a parallel government by Trinamool Congress toughs in the name of syndicate raj. "If you have to run a business in Bengal you need clearance from this syndicate locally. Cement, sands, bricks all would have to be taken by them. Even college admission has not been spared from the syndicate raj," said PM Modi.
He further said the sacrifice of BJP workers during the panchayat elections will not go in vain and he asked people to look at Tripura where people got rid of Marxists who also ran syndicates.
BJP sources said it is the beginning of a grand start for the party. Party sources said after October, Modi is planning to hold as many as 12 rallies in Bengal till the beginning of next year. "Yes, there is such plan," said Dilip Ghosh, BJP state president.
The strategy is while Modi would hold rally after rally—from north to south in the state—Amit Shah would hold street corners in different parts of Bengal during this period. There are many other leaders who would come down to the state and all the party strategists have been already asked to work as 'backroom boys' for the senior leaders. All block leaders have been asked to fill up booth committees.
There was another reason for the West Bengal BJP to cheer. The Supreme Court, on Monday, slammed the CBI for going slow on the Saradha ponzi scam probe and asked the agency to approach Calcutta High Court if they got no help from the Kolkata or West Bengal police in this regard.
The CBI will file a petition against the Kolkata police for non-cooperation next week. This would mean that the probe may be expedited soon.
There is also the pending Supreme Court verdict on the violence in panchyat election in which the TMC won more than 34 per cent of the seats unopposed. The verdict in the case will be pronounced on August 6.
It appears that the coming days would be tough for Mamata Banerjee.