BJP turnout target for Modi rally ‘too stiff’

Party leaders cite substantial minority population and poor organisational strength

A Modi cut-out near the Brigade Parade Ground in Calcutta: Pradip Sanyal

Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT   |   Bolpur(Birbhum)   |    07.03.21 : BJP leaders in many south Bengal districts are facing a challenge they dare not publicly admit — meeting the party’s stiff target of over 50,000 people per district to the Brigade Parade Grounds in Calcutta for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sunday rally.

On Saturday evening, many BJP leaders on the ground admitted without wanting to be named that meeting such targets were “practically impossible” from areas with a substantial minority population and where the party’s organisational strength is poor.

These apart, there are smaller yet significant hurdles. For instance, BJP workers said that in districts such as East Burdwan and Hooghly, many supporters are farmers busy with potato harvesting.

BJP leaders said the local leadership — for instance at booths — was told to go out of their way to maximise the turnout at the Brigade for Modi’s event because it is a show of strength for the party.

“Big targets have been given to all districts as the BJP plans to at least double the crowd of February 28 Brigade rally of the Sanyukt Morcha (the Left Front, the Congress and the Indian Secular Front). I do not think there will be any problem in making this a historic rally,” said Hooghly’s Subir Bag, a BJP state committee member.

Leaders on the ground begged to differ.

Birbhum, for example, has 3,039 booths, with around 950 booths that have a substantial minority population. In Assembly seats Murarai and Nalhati, the minority community comprises over 60 per cent. The BJP set a target of at least 15 from each booth area to meet the state leadership’s target of 45,000 people from Birbhum. “We needed to omit the booths from minority areas as we have practically no support in those pockets….The target given to us is unrealistic,” said a BJP worker in Birbhum.

Dhruba Saha, BJP’s Birbhum unit chief, admitted that many booths “will have no representative”, but predicted “60,000 people from Birbhum will be at the Brigade”. “We are getting 300-odd people each from hundreds of other booths.”

BJP’s state chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said there was no “target fixed for districts” but the party asked for representation from all booths. On ground-level problems, he said: “We understand there are attempts to stop our people from coming to the meeting, but we have confidence in our workers and organisers.”