The Trinamool Congress is expanding its campaign trails beyond West Bengal. While party chief Mamata Banerjee is touring the state to woo voters, her lieutenants are focussed on a campaign of sorts to make a difference: Dispatching the TMC vision document and election manifesto to a wide ranging audience — from industry majors to superstars like Aamir Khan.
Derek O’Brian, Banerjee’s trusted man for image-building exercises, said: “Mamata Banerjee believes the rest of India want to look at West Bengal differently now. We want to share our vision with toppers in various sectors like the industry, entertainment, education, health, etc. We wanted to reach out to them while people voted for change in Bengal.”
The list of recipients include the likes of Infosys, ITC, Bengal Ambuja, Indian Institutes of Management, Yashraj films, Aamir Khan productions and even Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati’s sports companies. “Altogether 500 copies of the twin documents were distributed. Around 400 copies were distributed inside the state and the rest across India,” said O’Brian.
The inherent message was simple: Think about investing in Banerjee’s Bengal. The Left Front, however, is confident that opportunity will never arrise for the industries and it would retain power.
The 55-page vision document is divided in two parts. The first part, consisting of 20 pages – printed in red – shows the dismal state of Bengal during the Left rule. The following part deals with what Didi wants to do if voted to power.
IIM-Kozhikode was one of the first to receive the twin documents with a signed letter from Banerjee. Its director Debashis Chatterjee said over telephone: “Yes, I have seen her vision document. We undertake training programme and courses for politicians and public servants. If any chief minister wants to take our consultancy for training his or her team, we will evaluate what we can do. We are a business school and we help in formulating policies and programmes on a commercial basis.” But Chatterjee made it clear that so far there were no requests from the Trinamool Congress on this front.
Banerjee has also fielded eminent apolitical personalities to fight the assembly elections in Bengal to send a message. FICCI’s secretary general Amit Mitra, former chief secretary of Bengal Manish Gupta, theatre personality Bratya Basu and a few retired IPS officers are among the Trinamool candidates.
O’Brian said: “The people who have received our documents might develop an interest to invest or help West Bengal in the future after we come to power. That would be our achievement through this campaign.” But did he send Mamata Banerjee’s Vision Document to the Tatas? “Well, I can’t remember,” O’Brian said.
