Three senior leaders of the BJP on Monday reached North Dinajpur, a district with nine Assembly seats where elections would be held in the sixth phase (on April 22), and underscored the promises which the party had mentioned in its election manifesto for Bengal.

Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief J.P. Nadda turned up in the district on the final day of the campaign.

While Shah spoke at a public meeting in Chakulia and attended two road shows, Singh addressed public meetings in Goalpokhor and Itahar. Nadda, on the other hand, attended a road show in Raiganj, the district headquarter.

“We are confident that the BJP will come in power and implement the Citizenship Amendment Act…. Citizenship will be provided to the Matua community. North Bengal has been deprived of development by the parties which had been in power so far,” said Shah.

The defence minister said the BJP would secure the majority mark in the 294-seat Bengal Assembly.

“Elections have been held in five phases and the trends are favourable for us. People want a change as they have given 10 years to Mamata Banerjee. It is not a short time and many commitments could have been met,” Singh said.

In 2019, the BJP had managed to secure the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat, even though the district has a minority population close to 50 per cent.

In North Dinajpur, the BJP has not won a single Assembly seat in recent times. Back in 2011, Trinamul and Left had won three seats each, while two went to the Congress. An independent had won another seat.

In 2016, Trinamul managed to win five seats, while two each went to the Congress and the Left Front.

However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamul could secure lead in five Assembly segments, while the BJP came first in the remaining four.

Political observers pointed out that in the Parliament elections, BJP leaders had played the polarisation card and time and again referred to the Daribhit incident where two youths had died in a firing while protesting against the recruitment of some teachers in a school.

“The strategy had worked for them. Unlike other seats, both the CPM and the Congress had contested in Raiganj and minority votes were shared among these two parties and Trinamul. But this time, the Congress and the CPM are allies and it seems the contest would be tough for the BJP. That is why top leaders and central ministers campaigned extensively on the final day of the campaign,” said an observer.

In his speech, the Union home minister played the development card. “We will constitute a development board for north Bengal with an allocation of Rs 3,000 crore… the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose national highway that would connect Calcutta with Siliguri would be built and a central university would be set up in the region,” said Shah.