KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP has decided to conduct workshops and classes for party workers on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in the wake of the party’s debacle in the by-elections in the state which was apparently triggered by the party’s foot-soldiers’ inability to use the issue as a political tool.
A preliminary analysis of the electoral results revealed the party’s attempt to use the CAB issue as a political weapon to counter Trinamool’s massive campaign against National Register of Citizens (NRC) proved futile.
BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh admitted that Trinamool Supremo Mamata Banerjee has been successful in creating confusion before the by-polls over NRC and CAB issues.
“We could not convince the people about NRC and CAB. Trinamool took its advantage,” said Ghosh.
The saffron camp decided to keep aside NRC issue in Bengal after more than 19 lakh people, mostly Hindus, were omitted from the list of the citizenship register and Union home minister Amit Shah, during his Kolkata visit in October, instructed the party’s state leadership to launch a campaign on CAB issue.
“Our grass-root workers failed to convince Hindu voters that the CAB will protect their citizenship. We need to make our party workers aware before going to the people and convincing them,” said a senior BJP leader.
The saffron party has decided to conduct workshops and classes for workers throughout December.
The leaders will train their foot-soldiers about how to convince the Hindu voters and assure them none of them will be left out of NRC, said a BJP leader.