Didi targets BJP's Ram politics

TT, Calcutta, Oct. 22: Mamata Banerjee today instructed the Trinamul leadership to launch an all-out attack on the BJP for resorting to bovine politics and invoking Ram in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh elections next year.

"They are bringing Lord Ram and cows into the equation again, such is their desperation. They even used the party's lotus symbol in the logo for the Brics summit in Goa. These things have to be resisted," the chief minister was quoted as saying by a source who attended a closed-door meeting of Trinamul's extended core committee at her Kalighat home.

The logo for the Brics summit earlier this month was a lotus, which is the BJP's symbol. The choice of the logo had invited allegations that the BJP had played a role in the selection to gain political mileage Goa, where too elections are due early next year.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had opened and closed a speech with the slogan "Jai Shri Ram; Jai, Jai Shri Ram".

Sangh sources, on their part, had stressed on cow protection.

This strategy, in conjunction with the stepping up of the anti-Pakistan rhetoric, is being seen as part of the BJP's preparations for the February elections in Uttar Pradesh. The polls are crucial for the BJP as the party had won 71 of the 80 seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"Any dip in the BJP's political fortunes in Uttar Pradesh will weaken the party. That is why all the Opposition parties are trying to step up the anti-BJP campaign. We also have to make our presence felt in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," a Trinamul Lok Sabha MP said.

Mamata today laid down a three-pronged strategy to take on the BJP over the next few weeks.

First, she asked senior leaders to organise several anti-BJP "awareness" rallies across Bengal between November 3 and 11. Second, Mamata set up a committee - comprising Saugata Roy, Manas Bhuniya, Dinesh Trivedi, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Nirbed Roy, Sultan Ahmed and Malay Ghatak - to publish a booklet to "expose" the BJP's alleged attempts at communal polarisation.

Third, she directed Trinamul MPs to raise their voice against the Centre and the BJP in the winter session of Parliament.

Trinamul sources said the tough stand indicated that Mamata was planning to project herself as a champion of minority rights amid the controversy over the proposed uniform civil code and the triple talaq, which the Centre has opposed in court.

Besides, another Trinamul Lok Sabha MP pointed out, Mamata wanted to give the impression that she considered the BJP the principal Opposition in Bengal, which would help her in elections by ensuring a stronger consolidation of Muslim votes. The minority community makes up a third of Bengal's electorate.

"The timing of the renewed attack on the BJP is significant. This is being done with the objective of emerging as a key player when there's a renewed debate on minority rights over issues such as the uniform civil code and triple talaq," the MP said.

He said that despite Mamata's silence on these issues, three Trinamul MPs - Sultan Ahmed, Idris Ali and Ahmed Hassan Imran - participated in an agitation yesterday at Esplanade against the Centre's proposed uniform civil code.

According to him, the three MPs would play a crucial role in a three-day conference next month in Calcutta where lakhs of minority community members are supposed to participate.

The BJP criticised Mamata for her government's alleged policy of appeasement and warned her against "playing with fire".

"All of this is because of two things: the glasses of hatred of the BJP she has on, and her commitment to... appeasement.... The Brics logo was approved by Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa (the other countries that are part of the grouping). Only Mamata Banerjee has a problem with it," said BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh.