The BJP on Monday launched a mass outreach programme aimed at the rural population months ahead of the panchayat elections in the state. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar launched the “Gram Samparkha Abhiyan” in the Purba Medinipur district. The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that the saffron camp has copied its programme.
“In West Bengal, under the corrupt TMC rule, the poor people do not have access to basic services like sanitisation and housing facilities. The Gram Sampark Abhiyan is to assure people and listen to their problems and ensure they get the benefits of the central schemes,” Majumdar said while launching the programme.
The mass outreach programme, which was launched with an eye on the panchayat polls likely to be held in April-May this year, will cover around 2000 villages and 100 rural assembly constituencies of the state.
The programme comes nearly two months after the TMC launched a mass outreach campaign, 'Didir Suraksha Kavach' (Didi's Protective Shield), to check and ensure that people get benefits from the pro-people projects of the state government. The TMC leaders have been facing protests in various parts of the state as they conducted the programme in every nook and corner.
“Apart from reaching out to the people with our policies and programmes, our mass outreach programme is aimed at reaching out to people in those areas, especially where the TMC leaders have faced protests,” a senior BJP leader said. Reacting to BJP's programme, the TMC dubbed the saffron camp as a “bad student who always wishes to pass an exam by copying from the topper in the class.”
“The BJP is just copying our programme. They don't have any ideas, so they must resort to stealing our ideas. The BJP is like a bad student who always wishes to pass an exam by copying from the topper in the class. But despite copying our programme, it won't yield any result in the rural polls,” he said.
The BJP's campaign comes at a time when the party looks to tone up its organisational machinery in the state ahead of the panchayat elections, which has seen internal squabbles and defections since the 2021 assembly poll results. Several senior leaders are engaged in feuds off and on social media, leaving little time for the party's growth.
The state unit has been fighting hard to keep its flock together after former union minister Babul Supriyo, party MP Arjun Singh and six legislators, including its national vice president Mukul Roy, switched to the TMC since the assembly poll results in 2021.
The Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, stormed to power for the third consecutive time riding on the "Bengali Pride" poll plank and bagged 213 seats. The TMC had fanned the 'Bengali pride' by coming up with a poll slogan, "Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chai" (Bengal wants its own daughter), and has created a poll narrative of sub-nationalism to counter and trounce BJP's identity politics in the 2021 assembly polls.
