The civic poll results in Bengal on Wednesday, which saw a clean sweep by Trinamul and rapid erosion of the saffron support base, also hinted that the ruling party has revived its Rajbanshi vote bank in at least urban pockets of north Bengal.
Crediting this to recent initiatives of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, senior Trinamul leaders highlighted her visit to the region ahead of the polls to attend the birth anniversary of Rajbanshi icon Chila Roy and share the dais with Ananta Maharaj, who heads a faction of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association (GCPA), and has considerable clout among the Rajbanshis.
Since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Rajbanshi-dominated areas had been backing the BJP. The trend continued at the Assembly elections held last year, making the BJP win 30 of 54 seats in the region.
The Trinamul leadership was perturbed because despite having Rajbanshi leaders like Bangshibadan Barman and Atul Roy with them, the saffron camp had made major inroads into the community, a political veteran in Cooch Behar said.
“This prompted Trinamul to draw up new plans and try and rub shoulders with Ananta Maharaj. The strategy seems to have worked during the civic polls,” the veteran said.
Ananta, who had earlier sided with the BJP, shared the dais with Mamata during the birth anniversary of Chila Roy where she came up with multiple announcements for the Rajbanshis, including jobs for volunteers of the GCPA.
“The chief minister’s visit to Cooch Behar has largely helped us win back support of the Rajbanshis. Also, the non-performance of the BJP MPs, including the two Union ministers of state, is yet another reason why the people of civic areas voted for us,” said senior Trinamul leader Rabindranth Ghosh.
In north Bengal,the elections were due in 19 civic bodies on February 27. Elections to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation had happened earlier on February 12.
Among these 19, the BJP had a lead in 13 civic bodies, including 10 civic bodies where votes of the Rajbanshi population decide the results, in the Assembly elections that happened less than a year ago.
On February 27, when elections were held in 18 municipalities — not 19, as Trinamul won Dinhata uncontested. Wednesday’s results clearly showed the sway of the ruling party in 17 of these 18 civic bodies — barring Darjeeling where a new regional party won.
Also, the civic poll results also showed that the BJP’s vote share has fallen embarrassingly compared to what it got in the Assembly polls.
For instance, in Alipurduar and Falakata Assembly seats, the BJP’s vote share was 48.19 per cent and 46.91 per cent respectively. The state poll panel, which released district-wise vote share figures for the civic elections, put the saffron party’s vote share at 20.64 per cent for Alipurduar district, under which these two civic bodies fall.
“It is a clear indication that Trinamul has managed to revive the support of the urban Rajbanshis. The party is eyeing rural polls next year and wants a similar favourable mandate to weaken the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” said an observer.
