00:00This picture shared by a BJP leader may just go down as the first big
00:08ripple in Bengal politics ahead of the assembly elections a few months away.
00:11Bengal will never forgive this TMC thugs. The post reads and lists the following
00:16people. Aakash Banerjee, nephew of Mantar Banerjee, cousin of Abhishek Banerjee,
00:20Aakash Banerjee's wife, Aditi Gayan, social media handler of Abhishek Banerjee,
00:24Arup Biswas, minister, daughters of Swaroop Biswas who happens to be the
00:28brother of Arup Biswas. The post claims in West Bengal you can insult their CM or
00:36their fish, you can see Mantar Banerjee is anti-Hindu, she's corrupt, no one cares
00:40to hoots but you don't mess with their football and get away smiling and that's
00:46why this messy in Kolkata chaos has quietly handled the BJP something it has
00:50struggled to find in Bengal so far an organic issue that people feel in their
00:54bones. West Bengal sports minister Arup Biswas for instance was singled out as
01:00the real culprit in multiple threads on social media he was accused of turning
01:04the event into a personal photo op more than 60,000 fans were at the stadium for
01:08one thing one clean glimpse of Lionel Messi just a minute one I was there moment for
01:15life. Let alone watching Messi on the ground he is not even visible on the TV
01:22screen on the ground people felt cheated so they lost it what followed was
01:26vandalism uprooted chairs chaos then the crackdown began the main organiser
01:30Shatadhrou Datta got arrested the state announced a probe led by a retired judge
01:34refund talks started flying around some of it clear some of it messy. Shatadhrou to
01:38give us the answer I need we want the refund we want the refund now let me tell you why
01:43this helps the BJP and why it's different this time so the BJP has been
01:46trying to corner a chief minister Amantabh Banerjee for years they've tried
01:49the anti-Hindu framing but Ranta has often countered that in her own style by
01:53loudly owning Bengali religiosity, Durga, the whole cultural grammar of the
01:57state.
01:58The BJP has tried corruption as the
02:03master key but Bengal voters also noticed the BJP's own habits including how
02:07easily BJP imports leaders with baggage from rival parties so those attacks don't
02:18always become a people's street issue they stay as party speeches now this
02:22messy mess is different because it isn't ideology its experience it's the
02:26middle-class kid with a jersey it's the Mohan Bagan East Bengal uncle who still
02:30thinks football is family is the auditory fan looking at VIP culture and saying
02:33Amra ki Boka are we fools when TMC linked organizers and local power networks
02:38start taking heat for mismanagement the BJP does not have to manufacture
02:42outrage it just has to show up and point for an election that's coming soon this
02:46is the kind of spark you can build a campaign rhythm around we will have to
02:50sit back and watch how the BJP tries to turn this anger into its opening act for
02:532026 I'm Anish Adhikari thank you for watching
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