West Bengal bypolls: Campaign picks up as political barbs fly thick and fast

BJP president Sukanta Majumdar targets police whereas Trinamool leader Firhad Hakim apologises  for comment on woman BJP leader

With only a few days left for bypolls on six Assembly seats in West Bengal, the campaign has picked up with leaders of political parties launching scathing attacks on their political opponents.

State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sukanta Majumdar while campaigning for his party candidate at Taldangra in Bankura launched an aggressive attack not only at the Trinamool Congress but also at the West Bengal Police.

“Our fight is not with the Trinamool Congress, but with the police. If the police are removed, there will be no political party called Trinamool Congress within 15 minutes,” Mr. Majumdar, who is also a Union Minister of State, said. The Balurghat MP also threatened the police by saying that they should not work as agents of the Trinamool Congress. “If you want to work as agent of Trinamool Congress then remove the national emblem from your uniform,” the BJP leader said.

Another BJP lawmaker, MLA Niladri Sekhar Dana was heard at a public meeting exhorting his supporters to buy ‘equipment’ in an oblique reference to assemble arms to fight political opponents.

Bypolls on November 13

Bye-election to six Assembly seats — Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai (SC) and Madarihat (ST) — will be held on November 13. The polls assume significance as it comes right after protests rocked the State over the rape and murder of a doctor at R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. The protesters had kept the Opposition parties away from the protests and the bypolls are an opportunity for the principal Opposition to take on the ruling party in West Bengal.

The Trinamool Congress leadership rubbished the aggressive remarks as “political posturing”. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the BJP has not been able to win elections with the deployment of central forces in the past. In the Lok Sabha polls concluded earlier this year the Trinamool Congress won 29 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats and the BJP won only 12. The Congress party was able to win only one Lok Sabha Seat.

Hakim’s ‘sexist‘ remark

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader and State’s Minister Firhad Hakim has found himself in the centre of the controversy over alleged alleged sexist remarks he made against BJP leader Rekha Patra, the face of Sandeshkhali protests. Mr. Hakim, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation made the remarks during campaigning at Haroa Assembly seat in North 24 Parganas.

The remarks which landed the Trinamool Congress leader in a soup was made in context of the BJP candidate losing the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat with a margin of over three lakh votes. During the day the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission, demanding censure against Mr. Hakim in the ongoing bypoll campaign.

“The BJP announced a candidate from Sandeshkhali. Where is that candidate? She (Rekha Patra) lost... ‘heroo maal’. She later lodged cases against our candidate,” Mr. Hakim had said. With pressure mounting on him, the Trinamool Congress leader offered an apology later in the day.

“If my words have hurt her [Rekha], I am truly sorry. I would never even dream of disrespecting any woman. My leader is a woman; my mother, wife, daughters, and granddaughters are all women. We honour women in Bengal,” Mr. Hakim said. The Minister added that disrespecting women is not part of the culture of the State which worships female deities during Durga Puja and Kali Puja.

Published - November 08, 2024 11:01 pm IST