BJP's symbolic fight

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah spent Tuesday with his party’s workers of polling booth number 93 in Naxalbari, the birthplace of the Naxalite movement. The BJP does not want to distinguish between the radical left and democratic left, and the visit symbolised its determination to take on the leftist ideology. In further symbolism of its resolve to make inroads into West Bengal, Shah would spend Wednesday with party workers at polling booth number 269 in Kolkata’s Bhawanipur, the assembly constituency of West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Next month, Shah is slated to visit Odisha. According to party sources, he could visit Biju Janata Dal chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s assembly constituency Hinjili in Ganjam district. The BJP believes it is set to improve its assembly tally in Bengal and Odisha, where it has been traditionally weak, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.