A couple of days back Sarkar had suggested to his party men to take a train to Tripura and interact with rickshaw pullers and grocers to learn from them “what a blunder they committed by voting the BJP to power”. He also alerted people that the BJP was following the Tripura model in Bengal.

In his extraordinary appeal to the people and to his party men in Burdwan, Sarkar urged; “Don’t even think of bringing the BJP here merely because they did not rule Bengal. You can understand from the experience of Tripura and the entire country. You saw the government’s role against farmers, minorities and others,” Sarkar told an

“This BJP is now trying to grab power in West Bengal. They will tell you about your experiences of the governments of the Congress, the Left and Trinamul in Bengal and request you to see the BJP once. They will convince you with several assurances and request you to vote for them…. But don’t ruin the state by inviting that force.

“In Tripura you need not talk to CPM leaders. You talk to common people like rickshaw pullers, grocers… to know the reality. They will tell you what a blunder they committed by voting for the BJP. They are now waiting for the next poll to repair their mistake.”

He urged the people of Bengal not to vote for the BJP in the name of “paribartan (change)”underscoring how the BJP was replicating in Bengal the strategy it had adopted in Tripura in March 2018. They visited Tripura in chartered planes in the months ahead of the elections, and they are doing the same thing here in Bengal.

Recalling BJP’s pre-poll promises, he said; “They lured the people of Tripura by assuring guaranteed jobs for 200 days.… They told government employees that they would set up a pay commission for them like central government employees. They assured the people that jobs would be provided for each household. People are hardly getting jobs for 45-56 days. The pay commission hasn’t been set up and the jobs for each household have not been delivered upon,” the CPM leader added.

Though Sarkar criticised the 10-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee government he said the culture of ‘cut money’ was also in practice in Tripura. The RSS-BJP leaders are extorting money there.

It is not yet clear what impact Sarkar’s words had on the state CPI(M) leaders, whether still they are open to review their decision to contest the election and ensure defeat of TMC. They may succeed in defeating the TMC but it is certain they would not be able to come to power and form their government. They will felicitate BJP forming the government.

But one thing which appears to be imminent is, on its part the TMC has planned to spread the message of Sarkar in rural Bengal. While this would expose the BJP’s claim, it would neutralise the impact of the CPI(M) to a large extent.

Though a CPI(M) state committee member claimed that his words touched the hearts and it should be publicised on larger scale so that people should know about the BJP, as his words will be an advantage, the state party is yet to swing into action. True enough the party should have seriously delved into his expose and do some serious introspection about how its decision to contest the election will help the BJP to grab the power in West Bengal. His expose also underlines that the Bengal CPI(M) leaders did not have any idea of the travails suffered by the cadres in Tripura.

Intriguingly only one person who has shown alacrity is Amal Haldar, state secretary of the All India KisanSabha. He has directed his youth leaders to prepare video clip of Sarkar’s disclosure and his warning to the people of Bengal about the danger of bringing the BJP to power. He wants to hold small meetings at villages and play the video.

Nonetheless the Congress-Left alliance is yet to evolve a well devised strategy to counter the BJP propaganda. Meanwhile the TMC has decided to intensify its campaign against the saffron. The first move in this direction may be Mamata Banerjee refusing to attend Narendra Modi’s Sunday event at Haldia, despite being invited to it. The party sources apprehend that BJP may use this central government programme to “humiliate” her. Mamata is also not bothered at some TMC leader shifting their loyalty to BJP. She is confident that these desertions will not have major adverse impact.

The sources close to her point out that the deserters should see the recent trends. While in the wake of the farmers’ movement the support base of the party has been cracking in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the party has also lost the municipal and corporations elections in Maharashtra, UP, Rajasthan and Haryana. Meanwhile in the backdrop of this development two major opinion makers in the two communities — Rajesh Lakra, a former leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad and Bangshibadan Burman, general secretary of the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association have joined TMC.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, Lakra had campaigned for the BJP in the tribal-dominated areas, while Burman, whom Mamata had made the chairman of Rajbanshi Development and Cultural Board in 2017, had distanced himself from Trinamul. Even on Wednesday, Lakra went all guns blazing at the Narendra Modi government. After joining TMC Lakra assured; “In the Terai-Dooars region, we will remove even the traces of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am a priest and a pastor... Mark my words, Didi will come to power”. (IPA Service)