Mamata Banerjee says Murshidabad and Malda will be a 'big factor' in election results

According to TMC leaders, the party chief wants all the seats of the two districts where voters of Muslim community play a decisive role

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee.: File picture

Alamgir Hossain, Snehamoy Chakraborty   |  TT  | Behrampore   |   26.04.21 : Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said Murshidabad and Malda would be a “big factor” in the election results and every vote of those two districts would help her party retain power in Bengal, with a mango — the fruit the two districts are widely famous for — allusion.

“Murshidabad and Malda now are a big factor. Each vote from you (voters of the two districts) will help us stay in power in Bengal,” said the Trinamul Congress chief at a party workers’ meet here.

“Remember, this time I need the aam (the mango fruit) and the aamshawtwo (fruit leather made out of mango pulp mixed with concentrated sugar solution, and sun-dried) this time. Given the situation this time, I want the aameyr achar (mango pickle) too,” said a smiling Mamata, to thunderous applause from her audience at the Murshidabad district headquarters.

Trinamul leaders said Mamata was trying to say she wanted all 22 seats of Murshidabad and all 12 of Malda, two districts where voters of Muslim community — over 60 per cent in Murshidabad and over 50 per cent in Malda — play a decisive role in elections.

“By claiming the fruit and its main by-products, she basically said she expected all seats from the two districts. In Bengali, there is a saying that talking about being left with the aameyr anti (mango seed), which basically means being left with nothing. What she requested the people in these two districts to ensure is that the others are left with the anti,” said a district leader who attended the meeting.

Mamata specifically reached out to the migrant workers too, many of whom reside in Malda and Murshidabad.

Sources said around 6 lakh migrant workers from Murshidabad and 4 lakh from Malda work in Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat.

The presence of migrant workers is substantial in Birbhum and North Dinajpur too.

“A large number of people from Murshidabad and Malda go to work in other states. You know how I stood by the migrant workers during their crisis (last year),” she said.

“I stood by the families when migrant workers were gunned down by militants in Kulgam (in 2019) of Jammu and Kashmir…. I did that everywhere, whenever workers from our state died or suffered elsewhere,” she added.