BJP's Dilip Ghosh slams TMC's 'outsider' jibe at Amit Shah; takes a dig at Prashant Kishor

In the run-up to the elections in West Bengal in 2021, BJP's Dilip Ghosh on Saturday hit out at the ruling TMC for its politics of "insiders and outsiders". He said it was creating suspicion about the state in the mind of fellow countrymen. The TMC's "narrow politics" of asking people to resist outsiders is creating problems for the Bengalis working in other states, he claimed. Ghosh questioned whether the TMC would be able to provide jobs and security for the lakhs of migrant Bengali labourers if they are called outsiders in the states they work in and are asked to return.

"Has the TMC started thinking that this region has become Paschim Bangladesh? Do we require visas to enter this region? By doing this kind of insiders and outsiders politics, they (TMC) are creating suspicion in the minds of countrymen about West Bengal, like there was about Kashmir. The TMC must rethink before saying such things. Or the 10 crore Bengali population will be insulted," Ghosh told reporters at the party headquarters.

READ | Cracks widen within Congress as leaders disagree with top brass on Bengal poll strategy

'Outside working for you': Dilip Ghosh

Stating that none in the other states where Bengali migrant labourers work call them outsiders, the BJP leader said, "Where is the TMC stooping down while trying to do politics? Bengalis were never such narrow-minded as this earlier," he said. 

Continuing his tirade against the TMC, Ghosh said "Now even the PM, the union home minister have become outsiders. When the TMC leaders go to Jharkhand, Tripura, Assam or UP, does anybody call them outsiders?" "Sri Ram has now become an outsider, while goddesses Kali and Durga are from Bengal. Those who are performing the Chhath Puja are outsiders. In India there was never this issue of outsider and insider", he added.

Without naming poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who has been tasked by the TMC to work out strategies by the party in view of the 2021 assembly election, he said that it is an "outsider" who is working for it. The BJP leader also cited the examples of TMC MPs like K D Singh, Ahmed Hassan Imran and the Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi who are not from the state but got elected in the Rajya Sabha from it. 

Ghosh's reaction came as Trinamool Congress on Saturday alleged that the BJP is bringing in functionaries to West Bengal from outside ahead of the assembly elections as its central leadership does not have faith in local leaders. Moreover, CM Mamata Banerjee in an apparent dig at Home Minister Amit Shah had said that "some people come to state ahead of polls and leave making tall promises." 

READ | CM Mamata Takes A Dig At Amit Shah's Plan To Visit West Bengal Every Month Before Polls

TMC's campaign 

In the run-up to the West Bengal elections, Trinamool Congress (TMC) roped in poll strategist Prashant Kishor and his I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) team. Kishor's team has been working extensively in the state and has started a digital campaigns like 'Mark Yourself safe from BJP.'

Earlier the TMC had launched 'Didi Ke Bolo' campaign, also a brainchild of Kishor, about a year ago. In it people with any grievances on any issue could contact the chief minister's office by dialling a helpline number or through WhatsApp and Facebook. It has also launched a campaign "Bangla r Gorbo Mamata" (Didi, the pride of Bengal) in March.

READ | BJP steps up ante in lead up to WB polls; JP Nadda & Amit Shah to visit state every month

BJP poll preparation in West Bengal

From recruiting workers from reserved categories of society for every polling booth to painting the party's symbol lotus at various locations and staying in touch with priests and people from cooperative societies and self-help groups in near neighbourhood -- the BJP has devised a booth-level strategy with stress on minute details to wrest power from the TMC in West Bengal. Senior party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who might visit the state every month till elections are held, has set a detailed 23-point to-do list for every booth to ensure the BJP's victory in West Bengal, where it has never been in power.

The BJP is trying its tried-and-tested booth-level strategy in West Bengal where polls are scheduled to be held early next year. The party has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling TMC, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections with more than 40 per cent of total votes. 

READ | 'Congress Not Winning Horses': AIADMK's Jayakumar On Cong-DMK Seat Sharing Issue​​​​​​​