Home Minister Amit Shah’s two-day trip to West Bengal starting on Thursday underlined the caste and community linkages the BJP has been cultivating, especially pushing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to grant citizenship rights to communities who have settled in the State from Bangladesh.
Target: Election 2021
Shah’s presence was aimed at galvanising the cadre by asserting the BJP’s claim to capture the State Assembly in elections due in 2021 which he did duly raising the “throw out TMC” slogan with the party workers who thronged his gatherings at Bankura.
The TMC Chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee typically responded by issuing caution to Shah and said she understands enough Hindi to figure out what
“The Mamata Government has unleashed a reign of terror, especially on the BJP workers. But the time has come for them to go. The BJP will come here with two-third majority. The people of Bengal are ready to throw them out,” said Shah at Bankura.
CAA power
Shah had a meal at a tribal home in Bankura and was expected to visit the home of a member of the Matua community, part of the refugee Scheduled Caste groups loosely termed namasudras in West Bengal.
The BJP has successfully wooed the Dalit communities in West Bengal by promising them citizenship rights through the CAA.
The party benefitted from their support in the Lok Sabha elections and plans to continue mobilising the SC/ST/OBC groups in the run up to the next assembly elections in a State where the long duration of communist rule had obfuscated the caste fissures in the society.