Bengal braces for high-voltage showdown: Who has the edge?

15 hours ago

The campaigning for the first phase of the Bengal elections has concluded, with one hundred and fifty-two constituencies set to vote on April 23.

Transcript

00:00Welcome, you're watching To The Point. I'm Preeti Chaudhary. We come from Battleground, Bengal.

00:05The campaigning for the first phase, down 16 districts, 152 constituencies.

00:11The political campaigning drums have fallen silent, but lots will be going on behind the scenes.

00:18Polling first phase, Bengal, will be day after tomorrow, the 23rd of April, but lots going on.

00:26And in terms of political commentary, campaigning has now moved on to the second phase.

00:32And you had Amit Shah, the home minister, on a blitzkrieg today addressing four rallies.

00:37And the TMC has now caught on to one particular statement he made in one rally where he used the

00:45term ABD.

00:47The TMC says it's a half-back to what Prime Minister Modi used in 2021 when he said BB-O

00:54-BB.

00:55Listen in.

01:08Now, but I'll take you back to 2021, viewers.

01:12There was this one particular rally when the Prime Minister had used the term DD or DD.

01:17Many believe that was the shift in the election where Mamata Banuji gained sympathy, where it seemed that Prime Minister

01:26Modi was taunting him, her, disrespecting her.

01:29The TMC would hope that what Amit Shah, the home minister, said in a rally today could mean the same

01:36or could bring the same political dividends for the TMC like the one that Prime Minister Modi used in 2021.

01:43Listen in to what the Home Minister said.

01:46Thank you very much.

01:53Rám Mandir Bنایا अच्छा किया या बुरा किया जरात जोर से बोलो अच्छा किया या बुरा किया

02:035500 साल से यह लोग Rám Mandir नहीं बनने देते थे मोदी जी ने 2019 में

02:13Rám Mandir Bناकर जय स्री राम करते हैं जहां बाबरी मस्जीद थी वही राम

02:24मंदिर बना और ममता दिदी देखो अपने चेले हुमायु कबीर से बंगाल में

02:34बाबरी मस्जीद बनाना चाती है यह दिदी आख खोल कान खोल कर सुन लो यह बंगाल भारत में है कोई

02:47कबीर बबीर यह पर बाबरी मस्जीद नहीं बनाने देंगे हम

02:58All right so the terminology of a didi used by Amit Shah the Home Minister in West Bengal is being

03:06used by the TMC as an insult to Mamata Banerji

03:09I want to bring in my colleague Tapash who's been tracking the political heat of this election very closely Tapash

03:162021 Prime Minister had used the term didi o didi many think that was a pivotal point in that election

03:22which turned for sympathy for Mamata Banerji because the TMC used it as an insult the TMC once again looking

03:30to leverage political mileage out of what the Home Minister had said till now you had the BJP that was

03:37avoiding to make personal attacks on Mamata Banerji this one the Home Minister seemed to have done so

03:56Tapash can you hear me

03:59Yes Priti

04:05Tapash quick question that I had asked you the comment that has been made by the Home Minister in his

04:10four rallies today where he used the term a didi the TMC looking to use it

04:15like the one which the Prime Minister had made in 2021 with didi o didi

04:21Well yes absolutely we know that in 2021 the kind of remark that the Prime Minister had made

04:27the BJP had to pay for it and Trinamul Congress kept all guns blazing then and took all the dividend

04:32political dividend

04:33following that speech it was a part of their campaign it became a part of the campaign that how

04:37the BJP thinks about women and that's why the BJP should not be given a chance now this time around

04:43we have seen overall a much better

04:46now campaigning from the BJP but today at the almost at the end out of the first phase of elections

04:51the election campaigning for the first phase

04:54Amit Shah making this remark a didi have also not gone down well within the political class the Trinamul Congress

05:00have all have kept all guns blazing and they're attacking the BJP

05:04but it remains to be seen what we've been given to understand they're trying to capitalise on this and in

05:09the second phase the campaign that would continue

05:12till 27th of April they will be taking this issue to the common people and remember that Mamata Banerjee is

05:19a woman chief minister and she is known to be daughter of Bengal she's a

05:24household name in Bengal in a perspective of the political ideology in 2021 we had seen that how people had

05:30reacted the adversity against this comment of the Prime Minister

05:35now this time around home minister making this comment at a juncture when in less than 36 hours the poll

05:43for the first page is going to go start it is needless to say that this will give all kind

05:50of

05:50ammunitions to the Trinamul Congress as they are planning to attack the BJP in days to come so overall it's

05:56a stand-up between the Trinamul and the BJP but this is something that BJP avoided till now but finally

06:01the

06:02the Home Minister making this kind of comment will adversely affect the poll campaigning as it has affected the poll

06:09campaign of BJP in 2021

06:11we don't know that tapash thank you for joining us well we don't know that whether this time it will

06:17adversely affect because last time it was seen in hindsight that the

06:22remark of the Prime Minister had backfired and practically became a pivoting point for that election having said that the

06:30curtains have come down on the first phase of campaigning for the Bengal elections

06:37152 constituencies will go to vote in the next 48 hours and the campaigning drums have fallen silent but lots

06:44of behind the scene action this is where permutations combinations

06:50all of that would be tried and small meetings would be taking place where the first phase is concerned while

06:56on the face of it the campaigning has begun for the second phase

07:20the silence period is in place but the contest is anything but silent 16 districts 152 seats one high

07:31stakes opening round in the final sprint BJP and TMC went head-to-head four rallies each top leadership deployed

07:40a direct clash for early momentum

07:44but beyond the rallies lies the real battlefield the numbers the map the memory of 2021 start with North Bengal

07:53BJP scored turf

07:57Darjeeling and Alipur Dwar saw complete BJP sweeps 5 out of 5 each Kuch Bihar 7 to 2 Jalpaiguri 4

08:06to 3 in North East Bengal the picture shifts

08:10Uttar Dinachpur 7 to 2 TMC Dakshin Dinachpur split 3 each Malda and Murshidabad favour the TMC 8 to 4

08:20and 20 out of 22

08:22South West Bengal South West Bengal is TMC dominated

08:26Birbhum 10 to 1 Pashtim Bardhaman 6 to 3 Pashtim Medhinipur 13 to 2 Jhargram all 4

08:35Purba Medhinipur 16 out of 16 BGP retains strength in Purulia 6 to 3 and Bakura 8 to 4

08:434

08:47but the wider arc favours the TMC the picture is clear BJP entrenched in the North TMC dominant in the

08:55South West

08:56North East remains the battleground within the battleground and that shapes the BJP strategy

09:02hold the North expand into the East push into Bardaman and Medhinipur

09:08since phase 1 is decisive a bulk of BJP's 2021 gains lie here many of them narrow and vulnerable

09:16phase 2 shifts the terrain it leans far more towards the TMC

09:21on the final day of campaign the pitch peaked

09:29Amit Shah in Asana Seoul promised his son of the soil chief minister

09:33he spoke of uniformed civil court stricter enforcement of laws and action against what he called TMC ghouls

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Bengal braces for high-voltage showdown: Who has the edge?

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