People in Bolpur admit that voting for the BJP is fraught with grave, possibly violent, consequences, as the Trinamool has more feet on the ground.
Far away from the political corridors of Delhi, in this sleepy ‘land of lal maati (red soil)’ in West Bengal, many a slogan is being overturned.
For one, the BJP’s ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ promise — that it is still trying to delicately balance with firefighting criticism over fielding terror-accused Pragya Thakur in the polls — has been officially junked by the party in the Bolpur Lok Sabha seat. BJP candidate Ramprasad Das says, “ I am not going to the Muslim areas.” Muslims constitute about 30 per cent of the votes here.
“It’s not about religion. I am concentrating on the 80 per cent of the region where we have support. In the remaining 20 we have no organisation,” he says.
BJP’s war cry of a Congress-mukt Bharat has also hit a wall in Bolpur — that was recognised globally after Rabindranath Tagore established the Visva Bharati University here — in the face of dogged efforts by the Trinamool Congress for a ‘BJP-mukt Bangla’.