Is there any dearth of Bengalis?: BJP targets TMC over fielding cricketers in Lok Sabha polls

Trinamool Congress campaign for Lok Sabha polls focuses on Bengali identity, sparking controversy over outsider candidates.

Trinamool Congress campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls is built on the slogan of “Bahirgata and Bangla Birodhi (outsiders and those opposed to Bengal)”. For the past several months the Trinamool Congress leadership has targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the stoppage of funds to the State by “outsiders”. The slogan given by the Trinamool Congress at the Brigade Parade Ground was “Roar of People of Bengal will throw out those opposed to Bengal”.

The campaign of Trinamool Congress has been very similar to the party’s strategy in the 2021 Assembly polls where the party had fought the elections on the campaign – ‘Bengal wants its own daughter’.

However, while announcing the candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the party had nominated Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore and Kirti Azad from Bardhaman Dakshin Lok Sabha seat. This has raised questions about the party’s own campaign of giving preference to sons of the soil. Both Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad do not hail from West Bengal.

The issue was raised by State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar who raised questions on the Trinamool Congress’s choice of cricketers. “Is there any dearth of Bengalis?” Mr. Majumdar who is contesting polls from Balurghat Lok Sabha seat said. The BJP leadership has also raised questions as to why the party had nominated Sushmita Deb, who hails from Assam to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.

While the Trinamool Congress has dropped two actors Nushrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty, the party has fielded popular names of Bengali film industry Rachana Banerjee and June Mailah.

The party has dropped five MPs but given tickets to 26 new faces. At Bishnupur Lok Sabha seat the Trinamool Congress has fielded Sujata Khan Mondal, former wife of BJP MP Saumitra Khan who is seeking re-election from the seat.