BENGAL BJP PLANS TO HIT MAMATA WHERE IT HURTS, HER IMAGE

The Bharatiya Janata Party is poised to launch a direct attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, targeting her personally in its campaign against corruption in the state. This move marks a significant escalation in the political rhetoric between the two parties, and is likely to further intensify the already heated political atmosphere in West Bengal.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

With the Lok Sabha elections looming, the West Bengal unit of the BJP has decided to change tack and attack the Trinamool Congress’ only asset—the honest image that Mamata Banerjee has enjoyed for decades.

Observers say the idea is to send the message to both the I.N.D.I.A. bloc constituents and the populace in Bengal.
“The BJP wants to chip away at Mamata’s credibility and standing within the I.N.D.I.A bloc and stop her from playing any significant role pre- and post-Lok Sabha elections,” says Biswanath Chakraborty, a political science professor at Rabindra Bharati University.

Throughout her political career, Mamata Banerjee had a unique moniker, “Satatar Prateek”, the epitome of honesty, which was based on her homespun image of the girl next door wearing Hawaii sandals. This was an image honed to perfection over the years mostly due to a friendly vernacular media.

“It is not enough to say Chor (thief) Trinamool. It is Chor Mamata,” says Banerjee’s bête noire and former confidant, Suvendu Adhikari, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

On Wednesday afternoon, as Home Minister Amit Shah took to the microphone to launch a frontal assault on the Mamata government for corruption, the Trinamool marshalled its MLAs, all clad in black clothes, and along with Mamata Banerjee, sat on a dharna (protest) in front of the statue of B.R. Ambedkar in the Assembly premises to demand that the Centre pay the funds owed to the state on account of different Central schemes.