In an election campaign largely woven around identities such as religion, caste, culture and ethnicity, Cyclone Amphan takes centrestage in the storm-torn coastal South 24-Parganas.
Sources said the BJP and the Sanjukta Morcha have been going to people of Amphan-hit areas to highlight the alleged corruption over relief funds and other resources by ruling Trinamul, even as Trinamul leaders highlight examples of how many people received help from the state and how the BJP-led Centre deprived the people there.
Four constituencies of the coast — Gosaba, Kakdwip, Sagar and Patharpratima — will go to the polls on April 1, while the rest 10 seats of the region will vote on April 6.
Union home minister Amit Shah had openly in his campaign rally from Gosaba on March 22 alleged that “nephew and company (referring to Mamata’s nephew Abhishek)” had swindled central funds for Amphan relief.
It was strongly countered by chief Mamata Banerjee during her poll rally in Sagar.
On March 25, she recounted how she had spent a sleepless night at Nabanna on May 20 last year, when Cyclone Amphan had scythed through south Bengal, and how she used the entire pool of resources at her disposal to support people, from shifting them to safe houses to providing relief and rehabilitation.
BJP leaders in South 24-Parganas said Amphan is the prime issue as the people remember their sufferings and how Trinamul leaders allegedly diverted the relief money to the accounts of their relatives.
In every village, BJP leaders have been collecting names of villagers deprived from Amphan relief and referring to them personally in their poll campaigns.
“Amphan is the prime issue here as people have not forgotten the blatant corruption of Trinamul leaders. It is easier for us to reach them and ask for votes for better development and governance. We have asked the villagers to ask the Trinamul leaders to publish village-wise lists of beneficiaries to show who actually received money. This is an issue which could ruin Trinamul here,” said Palash Rana, a BJP secretary in the Mathurapur organisational district in South 24-Parganas.
Bikash Kamila, BJP’s nominee from Sagar, has been reaching out to people every day over “Amphan corruption”. “Amphan is recent in public memory. Hundreds of youths who protested against corruption (in relief funds) were tagged in criminal cases by Mamata Banerjee’s police. We are highlighting that,” said Kamila.
The CPM has fielded Kanti Ganguly, a party veteran and former minister, from Raidighi. Ganguly became popular for helping out in relief work by way of food, shelter and rebuilding breached embankments. The CPM youth wing even made a song on Ganguly, which talks about how only he came to people’s aid.
Ganguly is reminding people of this too amid fears of whether the BJP’s agenda of polarisation will take precedence. “I have been going to the people with the issue of Amphan. I have been telling them that I can help them in a better way if I become an MLA again. But as a great misfortune for Bengal, polarisation is also a reality here,” said the CPM veteran.
Trinamul leaders said the issue of Amphan was a “staged” campaign by the BJP and the CPM in South 24-Parganas. “People know how little the BJP-led Centre did for people,” said a leader.
“We have been admitting to the few mistakes during distribution of Amphan aid. But there are thousands of examples of people who got help. Many BJP and CPM workers also received the aid,” said Bankim Hazra, Trinamul MLA from Sagar and party nominee.
Dinhata death report
Special police observer Vivek Dubey, in his probe report of the death of BJP leader Amit Sarkar, told the Election Commission that it was suicide. The BJP had alleged “Trinamul goons” had murdered Sarkar.
