Kolkata: Hoping to capitalise on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to reach out to Hindus in West Bengal, the BJP has announced back-to-back rallies in the state to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Shah had recently announced that the Citizenship Amendment Bill will be one of the main election issues for the party in West Bengal.
Using Citizenship Bill and the 10% quota for economically weaker upper castes, the BJP is aiming to woo a section of Hindu voters who, the party believes, are unhappy with the “appeasement politics” of the Mamata Banerjee government.
Speaking to News18, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “On January 29, Amit Shah and Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb will address public meetings at Contai (East Midnapore) and at Arambagh in Hooghly. On January 30, Deb will address another rally at Mathurapur in South 24-Parganas.”
“On February 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two mega rallies at Bongaon and Durgapur. On February 8, he will address his third rally in Cooch Behar. Rajnath Singh will address two rallies, including one in Cooch Behar on February 2 and another on February 3. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will address two rallies at Raigunj (North Dinajpur) and Balurghat (South Dinajur) on February 3 and two rallies at Bankura and Purulia districts on February 5.”
Similar public meetings will be addressed by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Berhampur and in Dum Dum in the first week of February. BJP MP Giriraj Singh will address one rally in Serampore in Hooghly on January 30.
Ghosh said the rallies are part of the BJP’s strategy to oust the Mamata Banerjee government from West Bengal. “The idea behind doing multiple rallies ahead of the Lok Sabha elections is to have maximum impact on the masses and make them see why they should go for a change in governance this time. As usual, we are expecting several hurdles and objections from the state administration but are fully prepared this time,” he added, referring to the denial of permission for Amit Shah’s rally in the state.
The BJP is gearing up to target 22 parliamentary seats out of the 42 in the state. It presently has two Lok Sabha seats — Asansol and Darjeeling.
Comments
0 comment