Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar asked party workers to visit households in their respective areas and encourage women to become party members, promising that party membership would ensure them ₹3,000 per month under the BJP's proposed Annapurna Yojana.
The Annapurna Yojana, a scheme proposed by the party's leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, ahead of this year's Lok Sabha elections, aims to counter the state's Lakshmir Bhandar, a direct benefit scheme that gives a monthly allowance of ₹1,000 to general category women and ₹1,200 to those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Although the BJP won 12 MP seats, six short of its tally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Bengal unit of the party has promised women of the state ₹3,000 under Annapurna Yojana, three times the amount given by the Mamata Banerjee government under Lakshmir Bhandar, if it comes to power in Bengal.
"Go to the households and request the people to become BJP members.... Convince the women that if they want to get ₹3,000 (monthly) for the Annapurna Yojana, they have to fill out the BJP membership form," Majumdar told party workers at Purashree Bhavan auditorium in East Burdwan's Kalna on Monday evening.
"You should tell people that if they fill out the form, then the BJP government will come to power (in Bengal) and launch the Annapurna Yojana," Majumdar added.
Majumdar's instructions reflect the Bengal BJP's desperation to gain women members to meet its one-crore membership goal set by Union home minister Amit Shah by November 30.
A party source said the target was to attract a significant number of women members, who have voted in large numbers for the Trinamool Congress ever since Mamata launched her flagship Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
Mamata announced the scheme during her 2021 Assembly poll campaign and approved it in the first cabinet meeting she held after winning a third term.
Initially, the allowance was ₹500 and ₹1,000 for general and SC/ST category women, respectively. In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the state government increased the sums to ₹1,000 and ₹1,200, respectively.
"Majumdar's instructions were correct, as we need to offer something bigger than what the current state government scheme is giving if we want to attract new women members," a BJP leader said.
A Trinamool leader said Bengal's women knew that BJP's promises were empty assurances.
"Have they implemented such schemes in BJP-governed states? The people of Bengal know that those who cut funds for rural schemes will never do what’s needed for the women here," the leader added.
Some BJP leaders admitted the membership drive might not be a success till the party's organisation was strengthened in rural areas.
With Shah's one-crore membership target looming large, the state BJP has set specific goals for each district. For instance, the Arambagh organisational district in Hooghly, considered to be a stronghold of the BJP in south Bengal, has a target of 3 lakh members.
Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh mocked Majumdar's efforts, claiming that the BJP would need "binoculars to see its members in Bengal".
