BJP’s ground game in West Bengal covered booths, bastis and high-rises

THe categorisation of canvass booths into atomic number 78, atomic number 79, ag and bronzy, appointment of “high-rise pramukhs” and outreach to NGOs were among the strategies that the Bharatiya Janata Party deployed in West Bengal over the last few months. While the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other parties focussed on the exclusions wrought by the Special Intensive Revision(SIR) of electoral rolls, the BJP brought about a multi-pronged attack to overthrow the three-term TMC rule.“What we changed since 2021 is that we went on the offensive. We took on the Trinamool from every angle making Mamata Banerjee very defensive for the duration of the campaign,’’ said a senior party leader posted in Bengal.The first step for the party was to improve organisational strength, although it knew it would be difficult to match the TMC on this front. Even so, it increased the number of active ground workers from just over 100,000 in the last election to around 300,000.It also ensured that the workers believed in the cause. “Before, we didn’t verify these workers. This time, we had their Aadhaar numbers, we kept checking in with them every week or so, and so they were really mapped,’’ said a strategist involved in the planning.The tricky bit, of course, was to raise this army of workers without alerting the other side. “It was only in the last month or so that we encouraged these karyakartas to go out there and start really working on the campaign,’’ the strategist added, asking not to be named.The party was emboldened by the support it claims it received from people when the campaign started — something that seems borne out by the results.“Nobody thought we would win. But once the campaigning started, there were so many people, in high- rises and from bastis, who were welcoming us and giving us support,” said Lokenath Chatterjee, the party’s legal convenor in Bengal.In fact, high- rises were a special focus of BJP’s campaign in urban areas such as Chowringhee, Rashbihari and Jadavpur. The party tweaked its famous panna pramukhs (a worker responsible for every page in the electoral rolls) concept to appoint a pramukh in charge of every high-rise in certain areas.As the general secretary in charge of the state, Union minister Bhupendra Yadav told his team to focus on 45,000 booths spread across the 100- odd seats which the BJP had lost by a margin lower than 5% last time.He also warned workers to not get intimidated by the 30% Muslim vote in Bengal. He said that unlike what was previously imagined, the Muslim vote was limited to just 47 seats.Workers thus divided these 45,000 booths into categories based on how much work was needed on them. Platinum booths were allotted 50 workers, Gold booths were alloted 25 workers, Silver booths were alloted 10, and the rest were Bronze, with one worker each. For example, the party identified the bellwether Nayagram seat as a C- grade constituency (very tough to win).It was with the Left from 1977 till 2011, when it flipped to TMC. Yadav thus categorised 50% of its booths as Platinum. The party’s Amiya Kisku subsequently won by 100857 votes.“The people of West Bengal are tired of TMC’s patronage of crime and corruption and they have chosen Modi’s model of good governance,’’ said Indranil Khan, who flipped another urban and bellwether seat of Behala Paschim, represented thrice by TMC’s Partha Chatterji.The party also carried out a targeted outreach through NGOs and women’s groups, both of which overwhelmingly supported TMC the last time. “We had to first identify those NGOs who may be open to working with us. Once we did, we asked them to do some campaigning for us as well. Every little bit of outreach helped us in the end,’’ said the senior leader cited earlier.The final strategy was to eat into the women’s vote that Mamata Banerjee claimed as her constituency. The party deployed the women’s cell to go door- to- door talking about the Annapurna scheme, under which women were entitled ₹3,000 every month. “Whether it is the mahila morcha or all other women leaders, we told them how schemes like Lakhpati did have helped women across the country,’’ said Locket Chatterjee, former BJP MP.To unify the various strands for a perfect ending, Union home minister Amit Shah also spent days in the state. It was a gamble— especially after 2021’s disappointment and the general elections of 2024.But for the Modi-Shah ‘s BJP , Bengal proved third time’s a charm.