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A correction has been made in the article about the Haj quota in Gujarat
L K Advani had often lamented that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never had a strong political base in Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's West Bengal, but the veteran might have taken solace from Narendra Modi's rally at the Brigade grounds today, which was attended by about 200,000 people, and sent the Left and the TMC in a tizzy.
L K Advani had often lamented that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never had a strong political base in Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's West Bengal, but the veteran might have taken solace from Narendra Modi's rally at the Brigade grounds today, which was attended by about 200,000 people, and sent the Left and the TMC in a tizzy.
“This crowd will tell the Third Front, in which direction the wind is blowing,” Modi said making an obvious reference to today's meeting held in Delhi by leaders from parties like Left, AIADMK, Janata Dal (United), Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular) to revive the Third Front.
Unlike earlier rallies of the BJP in the state, which had been attended by mostly the Hindi-speaking population of city, Modi's rally saw a wider particiaption from youths, rural people, many representative from the hills (Jaswant Singh is the lone BJP MP from Bengal elected from Darjeeling), apart from thousands of tea vendors and small traders, who were special invitees.
Just a few days ago from the same venue, Mamata Banerjee announced she won't support “a face of riot”, and Modi retorted today. “In Gujarat there there is Haj quota for only 4,800 pilgrims, but we receive applications from about 37,000. In West Bengal the quota is for 11,600, and the number of applications received here too is about 12,000. Because, the minority community is economically deprived and cannot afford a pilgrimage. The so-called secular here should explain this,” he noted.
However, apart from once questioning Mamata's record so far in bringing a real change in the state, Modi still seemed have taken a middle path in dealing with the TMC politically, which the party sees as a potential ally.
“You brought Paribartan in Bengal. I congratulate you for that. You now seek accountability from Mamata on how much she has been able to deliver. In Lok Sabha you vote for BJP, and then ask me the same,” said Modi selling his development credentials to the people of the state, which he said is now “economically crippled” due to decades of misrule.
“You vote for me, you will be benefited in three ways. Mamata will work for you in the state. I will work for you at the Centre. Above me there will be President Pranab Mukherjee, who is also from this land,” he noted.
In an effort to make a connect with the people, Modi often broke into Bengali, quoting Rabindranath Tagore's bengali poem to even point out Congress' “injustice” to “the son of the land” President Pranab Mukherjee
“Both after after Indira Gandhi's demise and in 2004, Pranab Mukherjee was most suitable and senior person in Congress to become PM. But, the Congress has always deprived you,” Modi said.
The BJP president on the other hand went a step forward in sending out a message to Mamata when he said, BJP supports state government's demand for moratorium on interest payments on central loans and a bailout package for Bengal.
TMC, publicly, does not want to respond to this message as TMC leader Firhad Hakim said, “BJP is irrelvant in the state.” However, some in the TMC pointed out an increased vote share for BJP may be a cause of concern. “BJP has never got more than 5 to 6 per cent vote. If they can manage half of the crowd we gathered in Brigade, there needs to be realistic evaluation of the state,” said a senior TMC leader.
“If the communal forces are now making inroads in the state, it is only because of TMC's decisions like giving out declaring Rs 2500 per month as Imam honorarium. But, still I think BJP's vote is not consolidated enough to translate into seat, but how they change political equation would depend on whose votes they will be bagging,” said a senior CPI-M leader.
