Mamata Banerjee Nandigram campaign: Following weeks of a high-octane campaign, Trinamool Congress (TMC) party chief Mamata Banerjee is now a day away from the beginning of polls in Nandigram, which will seal her fate in the Bengal assembly election 2021. She is locked in tough battle with her aide-turned-rival Suvendhu Adhikari, who currently holds solid ground in the constituency.
From promises of safety to better education and identity itself, this season of campaigning in Bengal saw 'woman' at the centre for both primary parties. While the BJP launched frontal attacks on the ruling TMC for not maximising women's benefits in the state, the latter played up its advantage of being a party with prominently foregrounded women leaders. Meanwhile, where the TMC manifesto allotted single-spaced schemes for women, BJP's attention to promises for the female base spanned a wider array. Read both here.
As the lever was pushed on amping up audience appeal, the Bengal election campaign saw its high and low moments composed of rousing speech, recurring misogyny, mudslinging and front-faced attacks. See our full coverage on the state election. Here are some key moments from Banerjee's campaign, as Nandigram goes to polls on April 1.
Mamata Banerjee Nandigram Campaign: Glancing Back At The Highs & Lows
Her Battle Cry: 'Bangla Nijer Meyeke Chai'
Banerjee ditched her 'Maa Maati Maanush' (Mother, Motherland, and People) slogan made famous during previous elections for the female power-charged 'Bangla Nijer Meyeke Chai' (Bengal wants its own daughter).
It worked double-pronged. First, as a way of appealing to the sensibilities of the female voter in Bengal - constituting almost half of the state's electorate at 49 percent - calling upon this particular demographic to back her against men from the saffron party she was up against.
It was also a steady counter to Adhikari and the BJP's routine attempts at branding Banerjee as an 'outsider' in Nandigram. The slogan acted as a descriptor, a declaration of herself as the 'daughter' of all of Bengal as opposed to Adhikari's self-promoted identity as the 'son' of Nandigram's soil.
Nandigram Injuries Prompt Impassioned Rhetoric
Perhaps the most momentous event in the entire duration of the Bengal poll campaigns, the alleged attack against Banerjee in Nandigram after she filed her nomination on March 10 offered stimulus that prompted a series of subsequent dramatic rhetoric from both ends of the political players.
While party leaders dubbed her a "fighter" for getting through despite multiple serious injuries sustained from the 'attack,' Banerjee herself likened her state to that of an "injured tigress" made more dangerous by her bruises. The 'attack' was also apparently also the "tipping point" for ex-minister and former BJP senior Yashwant Sinha, who re-entered politics with a TMC induction.
In another turn that was deemed by audiences more misogynistic than competitive, BJP's Dilip Ghosh weighed in on her 'injury' discussion saying the TMC supremo would be better suited for Bermuda shorts than a saree if she wanted to flash her leg. He followed it up with similar statements saying, "A woman showing her legs in a saree is inappropriate." Read reactions to the controversy.
Promises For Women In TMC Manifesto
In her 10-pointer 'ongikars' for the people of Bengal, Banerjee focused on developing infrastructure, investment, health and living schemes in the manifesto. While the general programs sought to blanket all demographics - especially minorities and underprivileged sections - a single-point scheme promised benefits for women.
Under the broad arrear of social justice, the party pledged steady financial streams with annual income support to female heads of family, spanning 1.6 crore households at a monthly rate between Rs 500 and Rs 1000. Highlights from the manifesto here.
The opposition BJP, meanwhile, impressed upon welfare schemes for women with a spotlight on education to reservations in jobs and general safety. More here.
The Poll Play On Women's Safety
Women's safety was at the epicentre of both the TMC and BJP's election campaigns, with the latter making it a point to highlight recent events of gender-based violence in the state under Banerjee's rule. "If a woman can be raped at a time when she is present in the area, how can women be safe and secure?" Amit Shah asked in Nandigram earlier this week, after a BJP worker's wife was allegedly raped near to where Banerjee is staying.
Claims of similar "breakdowns" in law-and-order in Bengal have been brought up by no less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, who at a rally, questioned Banerjee over the crime rate and lack of women's safety.
Banerjee lashed out at the BJP, and what she called the 'Modi-Shah syndicate,' claiming they were "peddling lies" about the issue. "Had there been no safety, women in Bengal would not have been able to move around freely at night... Women will fight for Bengal. Women will build Bengal," she said at a rally in Kolkata.
A Candidate List Glowing With Women
When TMC released its election candidate list, the significant inclusion of minority members and women immediately stood out. The party's naming of 50 women candidates out of a total 291 seemed to be a reflection of its own structure spearheaded by notable politicians like Mahua Moitra, Nusrat Jahan Ruhi, and of course, Banerjee herself.
During the general election in 2019 as well, TMC had markedly fielded women for 40 percent of the seats.
Room for more youth leaders and actors on the candidate list this time pushed out several senior sitting party members, which prompted a spate of rifts and public decries of Banerjee.
As election-induced 'star wars' ensue, with influential names like Saayoni Ghosh and June Malia in TMC and the likes of Anjana Basu and Locket Chatterjee in the BJP fray, questions abound as to whether these candidates will bring their fanfare to polls this season or not.
Appealing Women To Wield Utensils And Spatulas Against Goons
In an appeal that raised eyebrows across the board, Banerjee recently called for unity among the women of Bengal against "BJP goons" with weapons that ranged from spatulas to ladles and utensils.
Alleging that the opposition was using arm-twisting tactics to prevent a smooth voting process, Banerjee said at rallies in West Midnapore, "The BJP is bringing in goons from outside Bengal to places where the party has some foothold. I will urge the women of the state to come out with "hata and khunti" (ladle and spatula) and confront the hoodlums."
The Election Commission has stated that for Bengal, a state with a reputation for election-prompted violence, only central forces will monitor poll booths within 100 metres and state police will not have access inside this boundary. TMC leaders had protested this rule. Here's why.
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