The scenes on Thursday morning at West Bengal’s urban constituency of Bhawanipore, was one filled with saffron party flags carried by BJP supporters shouting slogans like “Jai Shree Ram”.
Ahead of their candidate—Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s—arrival for his first campaign on Mamata Banerjee’s turf, the mood was upbeat as supporters were also holding up posters of Adhikari and dancing to the sound of the dhol.
A confident Adhikari arrived around noon in Banerjee's bastion with the belief that he will win by a huge margin of votes—more than the obtained when he defeated CM Banerjee by 1,956 votes in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly elections.
“Suvendu Adhikari will win, he will win with a margin of 25,000 votes,” Adhikari said, adding that he had obtained the blessings of the BJP's top brass.
“Mamata Banerjee is going to lose once again. Narendra Modi’s blessings are in this seat for BJP’s Bhawanipore candidate," he noted.
Adhikari also hit out at Mamata for her appeasement politics.
“Her (Banerjee's) high appeasement politics did not benefit the Muslims, she did not give them jobs and there is no development. She does appeasement politics and with appeasement, Mamata has strengthened her vote bank,” the Bhawanipore BJP candidate pointed out.
“Everyone is telling me when I got out of the car: 'Dada we are not ok. This family troubles us so much and uses the police, please save us. Hindus and Muslims are troubled here'.”
His supporters are fearless of being on the roads with saffron flags in Mamata’s constituency, even as Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters were seen painting the CM’s name on the walls beside Adhikari’s posters.
“What fear? A royal Bengal tiger has come to us, Mamata Banerjee has to run with her shoes in her hand, she can run to Bangladesh,” said a female BJP supporter, Asha Nath.
“We are not 50, we are 300 people. We are ready to fight and die. We will even give our life for Suvendu da,” said another female BJP supporter, S. Pandey.
Mamata Banerjee has always relied on her vote bank in this constituency, which has never failed to propel her to power for three terms in the Assembly elections.
Brimming with confidence for a fourth term for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, she is not deterred by the challenge thrown at her by Adhikari. The TMC supremo’s supporters are confident she will always stand by them as a leader they can reach out to when in trouble.
“He has the right to campaign as he (Adhikari) is contesting elections, but there is no one against Mamata di, be it Suvendu Adhikari or anyone. The person who is contesting from here, is he a resident of this area? If anyone here has a problem, will we go to Nandigram to find him? Who will we go to? We will go to Mamata Banerjee, our leader. That is why we want our leader,” said another TMC supporter Suraj Mondol.
“Suvendu is contesting from here for the first time; he is coming to get a taste of the pitch of Bhawanipore. Every time her (Banerjee's) name is declared, we start writing Mamata Banerjee’s name on the wall. He (Adhikari) is coming to see this pitch. Our pitch is ready, we are just waiting for the outcome,” said a TMC supporter, Subhakar Chowdhury, who also believes the CM will win, irrespective of almost 47,000 names being struck off the final Special Intensive Revision (SIR) list.
The open challenge is tough, but Adhikari was undeterred as he walked the streets of Bhawanipore with folded hands and waved at residents standing at their doorstep and balconies.
The message is clear: Adhikari may be seen as the outsider, but is determined to make an indelible mark in his first electoral fight in an urban constituency. The BJP MLA is contesting from two constituencies—Nandigram and Bhawanipore—wanting to be seen as a powerful leader in both rural and urban areas.