BJP claims 2 crore people watched Shah's virtual rally, TMC says 'far from reality'

The BJP said on Tuesday that Home Minister Amit Shah's virtual rally was a "huge success" as more than two crore people across West Bengal watched it, a claim which the Trinamool Congress described as "far from reality". Shah addressed the rally from New Delhi as part of the BJP's nationwide 'Jan Samvad' campaign.

"The virtual rally was sort of a new experiment for all of us in West Bengal. But at the end of the day, it has been a huge success. People have viewed it either on TV or on social media. According to our reports and estimates, around two crore people have watched it," BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said.

At least 15,000 big LED screens and more than 70,000 smart TVs were installed across the state for connecting with party workers down to the booth level, party sources said. The state has an estimated 78,000 polling booths.

"Apart from watching the rally on TV, a large section of people had seen it on Facebook, YouTube and our party website," Basu said.

Several leaders and journalists watched the rally at the state BJP headquarters on Murlidhar Sen Lane in central Kolkata. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, along with senior leaders such as Mukul Roy took the dais alongside Basu. At the same time, Union ministers from Bengal Babul Supriyo and Debashree Chaudhuri, and other senior leaders attended it in Delhi where Shah spoke. The Trinamool Congress leadership, which criticised Shah for addressing a meeting at a time when the state is battling the double whammy of COVID-19 and the devastation caused by cyclone 'Amphan', said the virtual rally has "been a flop show". The TMC ran a social media campaign on twitter with hashtag #BengalRejectsAmitShah.

"Amit Shah's political gimmick has found no place in the state of Bengal. Throughout his speech from today's live rally, the people of Bengal have repeatedly been voicing their opinions against BJP and Amit Shah across all the social media platforms, including Twitter. #BengalRejectsAmitShah was trending at the top in Kolkata and at 17th in the country-wide statistics," a senior TMC leader said.

The TMC leader said BJP's claim of two crore viewers was far from reality.

"The BJP finds it tough to get people for normal rallies, so where from will they get two crore viewers. The BJP should stop telling lies on every issue," he said.

Addressing the rally, Shah criticised the TMC-led Bengal government for its alleged apathy towards migrant workers. He said these labourers would ensure Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's exit in the 2021 assembly polls as she "insulted" them by terming Shramik Special trains, which were run to ferry them home amid lockdown, 'Corona Express'.