Nabin's march blitz after INDIA bloc's Ramlila show draws 'panic' barb from Bengal Opp

(From left) Suvendu Adhikari, Nitin Nabin and Samik Bhattacharya at the Calcutta rally on Monday. Picture by Sudipta Bhowmick

The sudden dash by Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Nitin Nabin to Hyderabad, Bhagalpur and Calcutta to battle the INDIA bloc's "vote chori" campaign has given the Opposition a chance to claim the BJP is "in a panic".

Shah led a "Save democracy, remove anarchy" march in Hyderabad on Monday while Nabin did so at Bhagalpur in Bihar in the morning.

Nabin then flew to Calcutta and led a march of over 25,000 people from College Street to Esplanade in the afternoon, accompanied by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari and state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya.

Opposition sources in Bengal buttressed their claim about a "scared" BJP by underscoring that Monday's marches by the two senior leaders came just a day after the INDIA grouping's massive Delhi rally that had sounded a call for "Modi hatao, desh bachao".

CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty flagged Nabin's reference in his address to the 2029 general election -- which is two-and-a-half years away -- saying it betrayed his nervousness.

Beleghata MLA and Mamata Banerjee loyalist Kunal Ghosh said a march to "save democracy" in a state it rules had exposed the BJP's "panic".

Nabin had, addressing party supporters after the march, said: "Tell those who are saying that Modiji will not return that Modiji will come back again. I assure you that in 2029, you will see your leader Narendra Modiji hoisting the Tricolour at the Red Fort."

Apart from countering the "vote chori" charges, Monday's rally was also intended as a show of strength by the BJP to galvanise its local units ahead of the civic elections in Calcutta and Howrah.

"More than two years are left before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, and Nitin Nabin has turned up now to chant the narrative of Modi's return," Chakraborty, the CPM leader, said.

"This is a fallout of the BJP's panic -- they have understood that Modi will not return in 2029. There's another reason for the panic: the BJP has understood that its policy of winning elections by manipulating the electoral machinery with the help of the Election Commission has been exposed."

Ghosh said: "It's the BJP's panic reaction after Sunday's Ramlila Maidan programme by the Opposition. It is ridiculous that top leaders of a political party that is in power have hit the streets to remove anarchy and save democracy."

Nabin seemed to obliquely acknowledge the absurdity of his position, conceding that anarchy had disappeared from Bengal with Mamata's defeat on May 4.

"After attending the 'Save democracy, remove anarchy' march, I realised that anarchy had already left Bengal on May 4 with Mamata Banerjee's defeat," he said in his speech. "I did not see any signs of anarchy today."

As is the norm with BJP leaders, Nabin attacked Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of working for foreign powers.

"Rahul Gandhi is now working as a toolkit for foreign forces. He showed sympathy for the forces that were behind destabilising Bangladesh," he claimed.

"When Nepal was in turmoil, Rahul Gandhi and his Congress party showed sympathy for those forces."

Suvendu, speaking after the march, said the Opposition had gathered at the Ramlila Maidan to save themselves from corruption charges and prison.

"You (BJP workers) must work to uproot all the dimaagi Naxals, Naxalites, jihadists, terrorists, Maoists, Jamaatis, dynastic politicians and corrupt individuals under the guidance and policies of Modiji and the leadership of Nitin Nabin," he said.

Suvendu said the Opposition would "disappear" in the upcoming civic polls in Calcutta and Howrah just as it had in the by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar and the re-election in Falta.

He challenged Mamata to contest the civic elections from her own ward and win.

Fresh SIR demand

Samik said the SIR conducted in Bengal before the Assembly elections had remained incomplete amid threats and resistance from the then Trinamool government. He demanded another SIR.

"We believe that the SIR in West Bengal has remained incomplete. Had the then chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, allowed the SIR to be conducted, the West Bengal voter list would have looked very different today," he said. "We want another SIR in Bengal."

Samik claimed that chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had become an object of "hero worship" in Bengal after a "free and fair" Assembly election.