Mamata Banerjee will be in north Bengal on a three-day trip next week to attend administrative review meetings of Malda, North and South Dinajpur districts.
After assuming the chief minister’s office for the third time in a row, this will be her first visit to these districts.
The visit, Trinamul insiders said, is significant for a number of reasons, which include the advocacy for separate statehood by a section of BJP leaders, including some legislators during the past few months, a recent notification issued by the Centre that extends jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) from 15 to 50km within the Indian territory from international borders and the upcoming civic polls which are also due in a number of civic bodies of these three districts.
A senior Trinamul leader in Malda said ahead of the Assembly elections, Mamata had sought support from people and for the first time, Trinamul could win eight of 12 Assembly seats in Malda.
“The party’s performance has also remained good in North Dinajpur (seven of nine seats). It is because of the seats in these districts that the party could bag 23 of 54 seats in north Bengal. With such results, we are expecting some important announcements from her,” said the leader.
After the polls, as the saffron camp had to take a beating — BJP ended with 77 seats — the demand for conferment of separate statehood status to north Bengal was voiced by a number of leaders of the party, including some MPs. The demand had also earned support from some organisations and political forces which are known to have considerable clout among the Rajbanshi population.
The demand however, has led to a rift within the BJP and two MLAs of the party from North Dinajpur who have quitted and joined Trinamul, have mentioned that it is one of the reasons for their decision.
“The chief minister has always played the development card to address such situations and to garner support for her party. There is a high possibility that she will pass the message to residents of these districts against this demand,” said an observer.
Also, the Centre’s decision to extend BSF’s jurisdiction is yet another issue that the Trinamul has been underscoring at different quarters.
During her earlier visit to north Bengal (in Darjeeling district), the chief minister had referred to the issue.
“This issue is working for us, especially in the bordering areas, as was evident from the results of the Assembly by poll of Dinhata (in Cooch Behar). All these three districts (Malda, North and South Dinajpurs) share borders with Bangladesh. It is yet another issue which is likely to be discussed at the review meetings,” said a Trinamul leader in Raiganj.
Also, out of the nine municipalities of these three districts, elections are due in seven civic bodies, including two civic bodies of South Dinajpur, the backyard of Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP chief.
“It is evident that Trinamul will desperately try to secure these civic bodies to give yet another jolt to the BJP, particularly in north Bengal where the saffron party has come up with better results than rest of the state, ahead of the 2023 rural polls,” the observer added.
According to sources, Mamata will reach Malda on December 6. On the next day, she will hold the review meetings of North and South Dinajpur districts in Raiganj and Gangarampur respectively. The review meeting of Malda district would be held on December 8 from where she would leave for Murshidabad.
Additional reporting by Soumya De Sarkar in Malda & Kousik Sen in Raiganj
