Trinamul Congress strategists have decided to make women empowerment the theme of the party’s election campaign and have lined up two back-to-back programmes in Siliguri and Calcutta next week to build on the narrative.

Mamata Banerjee will lead a road show with thousands of women in Siliguri on Sunday, around the same time Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Calcutta. On Monday (March 8), which coincides with International Women’s Day, she will hold a similar show in Calcutta with an overwhelming presence of women.

“Mamata Banerjee has always worked for empowerment of women in political and social fields. For their socio-economic development, an array of schemes has been floated by her government to encourage girls to continue their education so that they can stand on their own feet….. Women from different sections of the society are with Mamata, who is the sole woman chief minister in the country now. That Mamata Banerjee enjoys unparalleled support among the women would be proven through the two rallies,” Chandrima Bhattacharya, the state president of the Trinamul Mahila Congress, the women’s front of the ruling party, said at a news conference in Calcutta on Thursday.

The Sunday rally will commence from Darjeeling More (located in the northern end of Siliguri) and end at Venus More (Hashmi Chowk). The Calcutta road show will start from College Square and culminate at Dharmatala.

Trinamul strategists have trained their focus on women who make up more than 49 per cent of the voters in Bengal to cement the chances of Mamata’s third term in the chief minister’s office.

The Trinamul leadership and poll consultant Prashant Kishor had taken up a number of initiatives in the past few months to garner women’s votes.

On one hand, the party has floated Banga Janani Bahini, a new forum for women. On the other hand, it has come up with the new slogan of “Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chay” (Bengal only wants its own daughter).

“Trinamul leaders, including the chief minister, have always emphasised the welfare schemes of the state government for the empowerment of women,” said an observer.

“The women’s front of the party has also been activated to create a situation where women voters take decisions on their own and do not go by political inclinations of male members in their families, as is the usual trend.”

In January last year, Trinamul had managed to host a stellar show in Siliguri by assembling around 35,000 people who had walked with Mamata in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

“This time, we want to assemble more people and most of them would be women. All preparations are in progress,” said a Trinamul leader in Siliguri.