Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Wednesday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the increasing visits of its leaders from outside West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections, describing them as “political tourists” and claiming such efforts would not influence the state’s electorate.
Reacting to the increasing visits of BJP leaders to West Bengal, Ghosh said such exercises were not new and had yielded little in the past.
“See, it happens all the time. They are political tourists; they are daily passengers. They have money, they have the capacity for hotel bookings, so they are doing it. They did it in 2021 saying ‘Abki Baar 200 Paar’, but they stopped at 77. Now they are reduced to 60. They lost the panchayat elections in 2023 and lost all the Zilla Parishads,” he said.
Ghosh alleged that the BJP’s campaign in the state was aimed more at optics than grassroots engagement.
“The wall writing for elections is just an attempt to click photos. Those writings that are written on the wall, they don’t even know how to read them. To defame Bengal, whatever is needed the BJP is doing,” he claimed.
He further accused the BJP of conspiring to delete names of genuine voters from electoral rolls.
“Now the genuine voters are being deleted through conspiracy,” he alleged.
On the issue of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Ghosh made serious allegations, claiming that the process had led to distress among both voters and officials.
“Again there has been death due to the SIR list. There is a series of deaths, and it is the responsibility of the Election Commission of India and BJP. On one hand, legal voters are being harassed, panicked, committing suicide or suffering heart attacks. On the other hand, BLOs are also facing such extreme pressure. A complete harassment is ongoing,” he said.
Targeting the CPI-M, Ghosh described the Left party as the BJP’s “B team” in the state.
“There is no policy of CPI-M. It is BJP’s B team. The percentage of votes that BJP gets here earlier belonged to the Left. The Left has been reduced, and BJP has increased a little. Trinamool has never been reduced,” he asserted.
Highlighting the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and party National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Ghosh said the Trinamool Congress has consistently stood by the people of Bengal.
“Under the leadership of Mamata Didi and Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress has been with the public from day one. The Left was sitting at home. They were never with the people,” he added.
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