KOLKATA: The BJP in Bengal, which is facing attack from the ruling TMC and Left Front-Congress alliance over farm bills, has decided to pause its plan of using Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to build its narrative during the forthcoming festive season.
The plan was put on hold after the TMC launched an aggressive campaign highlighting how the bills will affect the farmers. The saffron camp’s state leadership decided to launch a counter-campaign to describe the virtues of the bills during the coming festive season of Durga Puja and Diwali.
"Our aim is to reach out to the rural people who depend on agriculture. We will explain to them that the three agriculture reform bills will pave a new way for farmers for their betterment," said a BJP leader.
The TMC has adopted a strategy to sharpen its attack on BJP on the issue of farm bills with a goal to take West Bengal’s 53 lakh farmer families who have their own land and 22 lakh others who are directly engaged in agriculture.
Anticipating the TMC’s battle-line ahead of the next year’s election, BJP’s national spokesperson visited Kolkata on Friday and said the ruling party in the state is misrepresenting the bills saying they will take away land from farmers. The party’s national leadership asked the Bengal functionaries to organise 13 news conferences on Saturday across Bengal and carry out it for the next seven days.
From Monday, small rallies will be taken out in booth and mandal levels in all districts. "The party will also conduct a door-to-door campaign to make the farmers aware of the content of the bills," said another BJP leader.