Trinamool: 10
BJP: 1
Don’t jump the gun. This is not the result of an exit poll. Just the ratio of poll paraphernalia that Bengal’s two principal contenders have been procuring from the wholesale market in Burrabazar.
A series of shops along Basantlal Murarka Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road in Burrabazar sell campaign material for political parties — party flags, badges, uttariyas (scarves), umbrellas, T-shirts, masks and the like.
In the run-up to the elections, it has been brisk business for the hub. The traders though have one grouse — the BJP purchase volume has so far been minuscule.
Instead, according to a state BJP leader, the saffron party is procuring almost all of its publicity material from New Delhi.
Rohit Gupta, the second-generation owner of Novelty Traders, wholesalers of the National Flag and political campaign material, and one of the busier establishments in the Burrabazar market, is flummoxed by the numbers.
“Since April, we have been selling more than 15,000 Trinamool flags on an average every day. The number has been less than 1,500 for BJP flags. A similar trend is visible for other campaign material too,” Gupta, who supplies in bulk to MLAs, MPs and district committees of parties across Bengal, from Malda to South-24 Parganas, said.
“This is in sharp contrast with the 2021 Assembly polls. Even then, the twin flowers (Trinamool’s symbol) were the most-selling items but the lotus (BJP’s symbol) was not far behind.
“This year, whatever BJP items I have sold have mostly been purchased by local booth-level teams. Big and bulk orders are almost absent,” he added.
As Gupta was busy sorting stuff at his store, a call came from a team member of a BJP parliamentarian from south Bengal. “I have been asked to send some samples,” Gupta told this newspaper.
Most traders shared a similar experience with The Telegraph.
The sharp dip in the demand for BJP campaign collaterals, and information from “sources”, has led them to a conclusion — India’s ruling party is opting for a centralised procurement for election paraphernalia.
BJP leaders in Bengal gave a stamp of approval to the speculation.
“Procurement is an internal matter of our party. Why should I share the source of procurement? All I can say is that there is no dearth of campaign material. We have, in fact, allotted much more material to every local unit than we had done in 2021 (Bengal state polls),” said a party state general secretary.
Another leader, who requested not to be named, said: “The entire procurement process is centralised this time. The material is reaching all the district headquarters directly from Delhi.”
Party pins on sale in Burrabazar. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha
The sharp slide in the sale of BJP campaign collateral prompted Sanjay Chandarana, the owner of Shiva Textile, to fall back on a line made famous by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Na khaunga, na khane dunga chal raha hai,” he said. Modi had used the term to mean he had zero tolerance for corruption.
“Modiji has decided that all items will be procured centrally. Previously, local leaders might have kept a percentage for themselves while buying publicity material. Perhaps Modiji wants to weed out that culture,” said Chandarana, whose family trace their roots to Gujarat.
“But we are having to bear the brunt of it (hum logon par bhari par raha hai),” he said. Chandarana gave a disclaimer that he “admired” the Prime Minister.
Burrabazar is part of Jorasanko, one of the seven Assembly segments that make up the Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency.
A sizeable section in Burrabazar is from the trading community, a segment the BJP considers its vote bank. But Trinamool won Jorasanko in 2016 and 2021.
Election campaign materials on sale in Burrabazar. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha
Kolkata North is a high-profile contest. Trinamool’s candidate is heavyweight MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who won the seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019, when he defeated the BJP’s Rahul Sinha by over 1.27 lakh votes.
This time, he is pitted against Tapas Roy, former Trinamool leader and Baranagar MLA who resigned in March and joined the BJP, mainly because of differences with Bandyopadhyay.
In contrast to BJP’s, Trinamool wares — flags, posters of varying sizes and Lakshmir Bhandar cutouts, made of a pot and “ebare 1000 taka (this time, it is ₹1,000)” written below — are in high demand, traders said.
In the run-up to the inauguration of the Ram temple in January, the sale of Ram Mandir flags and scarves had peaked. Those items again saw a surge in demand in April, in the run-up to Ram Navami, but has since waned, said traders. One of them, who requested not to be named, said the sale of BJP items was so paltry that it reminded him of elections before 2014 when the party was a fringe player in Bengal.
If saffron is ceding space, red is gaining it. Several traders said there was a robust demand for CPM flags and allied items. Novelty Traders’ Gupta said he has been selling over 4,000 red flags — with the hammer, sickle and star signs — daily.
“The demand is way higher than the demand in the 2021 state polls or even the rural polls last year,” he said.
Niladri Chakraborty, a CPM branch secretary in Jadavpur, came with a group that bought 2,000 flags and as many caps and badges. It will be used in the campaign for Srijan Bhattacharya, CPM’s candidate for Jadavpur and part of the youth brigade that the party is banking on for a turnaround in Bengal, once a Left bastion.
“We do not have unlimited resources like the BJP and Trinamool. We spend from our pockets because we believe in something. Going by people’s response, we will surprise many poll pundits this time,” said Chakraborty.
Kolkata North votes on June 1
