KOLKATA: Eying to woo women electorates in the upcoming general elections using the alleged sexual abuse on Sandeshkhali women as the key poll plank, PM Narandra Modi is scheduled to kick off his Lok Sabha elections campaign in West Bengal from Friday with addressing rallies in three constituencies from where the Trinamool Congress had sent women lawmakers to the lower House of Parliament in 2019.
Modi will address two rallies in Arambag, Hooghly, and Nadia’s Krishnagar in two consecutive days, beginning Friday. On February 8, he will address a gathering in Barasat, North 24-Parganas, an adjoining constituency of Basirhat where the uproar led by the women broke out against the TMC satraps.
“The three constituencies selected for the Prime Minister’s campaigns were selected strategically. Our party will send a loud and clear message that the BJP is the protector of women’s modesty in Bengal and the TMC is the tormentor,” said a BJP leader.
In 2019, TMC’s Aparupa Poddar, an accused in 2014 Narada sting tape case, was elected from Arambag, Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha for cash-for-query scam, from Krishnagar and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat.
“Initially, we selected Arambag and Krishnagar for the Prime Minister’s campaigns. These two constituencies were marked by our party in the list of 35 seats that was set by Home minister Amit Shah as the target of the party in the Lok Sabha elections. Barasat was included in the list in the backdrop of Sandeshkhali stir led by the women of the area against the TMC’s atrocities on them,” said another BJP leader.
According to data available with the Election Commission, the state has a total of 7.58 electorates and 3.73 lakh are women who are expected to exercise their franchise in the upcoming electoral procedure.
“The majority of the women electorates belong to Hindu community who will be our target. Besides, we will also reach out to the women from other communities as the plight of Sandeshkhali women has shaken the state irrespective of their caste, creed and group,” said a senior BJP leader.
The BJP has planned to bring women from strife-hit Sandeshkhali in the PM’s Barasat rally to ensure an impact of the issue among the audience present and others who will be watching a live telecast of the event. “We will talk to the women of Sandeshkhali who fell victims of TMC’s sexual abuse for months and years. If they want, we will bring them at the Prime Minister’s event,” said BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar.