Amit Shah in Kolkata: BJP gears up for mega rally as Saffron Camp ready to blow Lok Sabha Poll Bugle
Despite attempts by the TMC to delay the rally, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari confirmed that the Calcutta High Court rejected these pleas.
Calcutta: Home Minister Amit Shah will address a mega rally in the metropolis on Wednesday, which may set the tone for the party’s campaign for next year’s Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. Preparations are underway for the mega rally at Esplanade on November 29, where Shah is expected to set the tone for the BJP’s election strategy in the state.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar told PTI: “Amit Shah Ji will address the gathering. He is likely to set the tone for next year’s Lok Sabha elections in Bengal. At a meeting in April, he had set a target for us to win more than 35 seats from the state.”
The BJP had won 18 of the 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state in 2019.
Majumdar, during preparatory programs for the meeting, stressed that the event would reflect public dissatisfaction over alleged corruption by TMC leaders and ministers since 2011, their involvement in scams and the arrest of numerous ruling party figures in bribery cases.
Despite attempts by the TMC to delay the rally, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari confirmed that the Calcutta High Court rejected these pleas. Supporters and activists have already started to gather for the event.
Sources in the BJP revealed that Shah will arrive at the city airport on Wednesday afternoon, travel to Maidan in a helicopter and then go to the rally venue in a motorcade. He is expected to leave the same day.
The state leadership had initially participated in the saffron camp rally at the same venue where the TMC holds its ‘Martyrs’ rally on July 21 every year. However, the Calcutta High Court, both on a single bench and a division bench, allowed the BJP’s event. TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim said, “Why should we be afraid of Amit Shah’s visit? Is Gabbar Singh (a character from the movie Sholay) coming to Kolkata?”
Hakim dismissed concerns about the rally hitting the party’s stronghold and asserted that the BJP’s campaign efforts during the 2021 Assembly elections failed to yield substantive results. Shah’s visit to West Bengal is in line with the party’s focus on strengthening its organizational machinery in the state ahead of the Assembly elections.
The state unit faced challenges in maintaining unity after defections, especially by former Union minister Babul Supriyo, party member Arjun Singh and six MLAs who switched to the TMC after the 2021 Assembly election results.
In 2021, the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, registered a third consecutive victory, with 213 seats. The TMC’s campaign played on the theme of ‘Bengali Pride’ and countered the BJP’s identity politics with a narrative of sub-nationalism.