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For political parties holding a rally in Kolkata's Brigade parade ground is perhaps the biggest show of strength in West Bengal – something which was a monopoly of the Left for decades.
With changing political scenario, Mamata Banerjee's TMC too had tasted this majestic distinction in recent years. But, a party like BJP, which does not have a single legislator in the state assembly, is now daring to enter this elite political space riding on Narendra Modi's popularity.
Come Februray 5, BJP's Prime Minister candidate and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will address the Brigade rally to kickstart the saffron party's 2014 election campaign in the state.
Last time BJP had a meeting in Brigade ground was way back in 1991, chaired by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, state BJP leaders said, then there was a national executive meeting. But, this is first of its kind public meeting in such a big way at Brigade.
A rally in Brigade ground at Maidan in the heart of the city, which could accommodate about 800,000 people, is no less than a gamble for BJP.
At least BJP would need close to gathering half a million people, which certainly the the party has never achieved in the state, to avoid an empty look of the ground. The state unit of BJP is aware of the challenge, and working overtime to avoid any kind of embarrassment for their poster boy.
To encash Modi's humble background of being a tea-seller in early life, similar to Modi's Mumbai rally, about 50,000 tea-sellers across the state are being invited to join the rally. To add to this, BJP workers, have decided to distribute special passes for about 100,000 small traders, who too would be special invitees along with tea-sellers.
“There will be special seating arrangement for 50,000 tea-sellers and 100,000 small traders in the meeting. Besides, for people in the age group of 18 to 40, we have opened up an online registration system. People can register their name with or without giving any donation to attend the rally. There will be special arrangement for them too,” West Bengal BJP president Rahul Sinha said.
Also, BJP has issued directives to all its booth level workers to attend the rally and come up with a donation of at least Rs 100. “There are about 80,000 booths, and we have a presence in 70 per cent of them. Everyone is enthusiastic is about the rally, mobilising the public to come and listen to Narendra Modi,” Sinha added.
Incidentally, within a period of 10 days bigade ground is ready to witness three rallies as Modi's meeting will be preceded by that of Mamata on January 30 and will be followed by the annual Left rally scheduled on February 9. So, a direct comparison of three rallies is inevitable, something that has put all the three parties is on the edge.
However, neither TMC nor the Left are ready to comment on “communal forces”. Apparently they are not concerned about BJP's rally, as they believe BJP is a “non-factor” in the state. BJP is betting big on Modi's brigade rally to change that.
