This could well be the last election that the voters were taking part in — if they voted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power for the second time, Mamata Banerjee said on Friday.
This is because the “BJP is a dangerous party,” and “if they are allowed to return to power they will destroy each and every constitutional institution in the country,” the Chief Minister told in a rally at Behrampore parliamentary constituency.
“They are a fascist party which has left no stone unturned to undermine the country’s democratic set up. Dangerous times are ahead of you. If they return to power they will take away all of your rights. You will lose your freedom to speak, to work, to eat, lead your own life and not the least they will throw you out of this country by applying the NRC which they have done in Assam striking about 23 lakh Hindu Bengalis and as many Muslims from the citizenship list,” Banerjee said warning “so you must give a serious thought about whom you vote for.”
As the Trinamool Congress was the only outfit that had been fighting relentlessly against Modi’s divisive politics, his crippling demonetisation that has thrown two crore people out of job “they are victimising me, but you should not mind that as I will always stand behind you. But for that you will have to for me and not the Congress or the CPI(M) who are hand-in-glove with the BJP and RSS.”
In Murshidabad the Congress was getting full help from the RSS, she said asking the people not to vote for a party “which would not win in the elections.”
Behrampore is the district headquarter of Murshidabad which has three parliamentary constituencies — Behrampore, Jangipur and Murshidabad.
With more than 68 per cent of its population being minorities and plagued by acute unemployment forcing local labourers to migrate to western and northern States this district has been a traditional stronghold of the Congress Party.
While former PCC president Adhir Chowdhury is the Behrampore MP who won the last elections by more than 3.25 lakh votes, Jangipur also went to the Congress’ nominee Abhijeet Mukherjee — the son of former President Pranab Mukherjee — who defeated CPI(M) by a slender margin of about 8,000 votes. The Marxists won the Murshidabad in a tri-cornered contest — featuring TMC, Congress and CPI(M) — by about 25,000 votes.
The district is plagued by lack of employment, erosion of River Ganges which bifurcates into Padma before flowing into Bangladesh and plight of more than 6 lakh bidi workers. Mostly residing in Jangipur the bidi workers constitute a good 30-35 lakh strong vote base most of which gets divided between the Congress and the Left.
However the BJP has this time round made some inroads into the Congress den by netting Mahfooza Begum a vocal, former CPI(M) MLA who has through a strong Net campaigning has gained much popularity.
As TMC has not been a major force in the district until two years ago when it allegedly “intimidated and bought over” most of its leaders who constituted a strong electoral army of Adhir Chowdhury the outgoing MP of Behrampore this time round its “strong entry” into the electoral arena is making the scene interesting.
Because of a drop in Hindu vote base of both the Congress and the Left — thanks to the inroads made by the BJP — and the storming in of the TMC into the district the CPI(M) has thrown its weight behind the Congress in Behrampore.
It is the second seat besides Malda South where the Left did not field any candidate against the Congress after the alliance talks between the two sides failed. Elections for Murshidabad and Jangipur will take place on April 23.
