Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called up Rekha Patra, an alleged victim of torture in Sandeskhali and the BJP's candidate in the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency, and described her as “Shakti Swaroopa”.
During the nine-minute-long telephone conversation, whose audio clip was made available by the BJP, Modi told Rekha: “You are Shakti Swaroopa as you fought such a big battle in Sandeshkhali. You sent powerful people to jail. Do you realise how brave you are?”
While praising Rekha’s courage, the Prime Minister told her to campaign against the alleged atrocities unleashed by the ruling party across the state and speak about the welfare schemes introduced by the BJP-led Centre that the state government allegedly did not implement in Bengal.
Sources said it was very unusual for the Prime Minister to call up and speak to a candidate ahead of the polls and hence, it gave an insight into the top BJP leadership's intention to use Rekha as the face of Sandeshkhali during the poll campaign in Bengal.
“This gives a clear hint that Rekha will be used by the BJP against the Trinamul Congress in a big way in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls to keep the Sandeskhali issue afresh in the memory of the people in Bengal,” said a source in the state BJP.
Sources said according to the plan, Rekha would be taken to all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal to remind people about the “torture” unleashed on the women in Sandeshkhali allegedly by Trinamul leader Seikh Shahjahan and his associates. The sources said bringing up the Sandeshkhali issue would be the BJP's way to counter the effect of Mamata Banerjee’s enhanced allowance under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
The enhanced allowance will come into effect by the first week of April and the first phase of the polls will be held on April 19.
“Rekha will be one of our most important campaigners in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. She will be campaigning in all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. This will help us refresh people’s memory of the terror unleashed by Trinamul on women. It would also counter the effect of enhanced allowance under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme,” said a state BJP leader.
According to the state budget, the allowance under the scheme has been increased to Rs 1,000 from Rs 500 a month for general category women and from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) beneficiaries.
“The benefits will be credited to the bank accounts of 2.11 crore women enrolled under the scheme from the first week of April. The enhanced allowance will inevitably influence a large number of women in the state. The effect can be minimised if the people are repeatedly reminded about the Sandeshkhali incident,” said a senior BJP leader in Bengal.
Sources in the BJP explained Trinamul could not campaign about the enhanced allowance for the beneficiaries of Lakshmir Bhandar as the ruling party was busy battling with the Sandeshkhali incident.
“But once the benefits start reaching the women, the situation could change rapidly.... This is why it is important to keep Sandeshkhali relevant till the polls are over,” said another state BJP leader.
Political experts also said the BJP fielding Rekha as a candidate from Basirhat was an out-of-the-box strategy for the BJP.
“Fielding a Sandeshkhali victim as a candidate for the Basirhat constituency cannot be counted as a usual strategy for the BJP… The BJP in Bengal has never fielded a protesting face as a candidate,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.
A BJP leader said Rekha would not spend much time in her constituency and that was why some local resistance against her candidature was not making the party worried.
“We are not very hopeful of winning the Basirhat constituency…. We will use Rekha in all other constituencies to keep the Sandeshkhali incident alive,” said a source.
Sources said the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme had turned the tables in favour of Trinamul in the 2021 Assembly polls.
