Curtains down on bitter Bengal campaign today; Mamata Banerjee rallied in wheelchair for 44 days, BJP brought in big guns

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (right) at an event in January 2021

It will be curtains for the bitter West Bengal election campaign on April 26, which saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rallying around the state in a wheelchair for the last 44 days while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought in all its big guns from New Delhi led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for over 20 rallies.

COVID-19 dominated the discourse at the fag end of the election campaign, with Banerjee accusing the Centre of “sleeping at the wheel” as the second wave hit the country, and last week, promised free vaccination for all Bengal residents if voted back to power. BJP had to follow up the very next day with a similar promise.

Attacks on the Centre over the COVID-19 issue have come unabated from the chief minister. She accused the Centre on April 25 of “diverting Oxygen supply of West Bengal to Uttar Pradesh” and said the Centre exported vaccines when India was in dire need of the same.

BJP President JP Nadda has instead blamed Banerjee for mishandling the COVID-19 situation in West Bengal and skipping the Prime Minister’s review meetings on COVID-19.

While three candidates died due to COVID-19 during these assembly elections, over half a dozen were infected. Banerjee put the blame for spread of COVID-19 in Bengal on over one lakh BJP cadre, which she claims has camped in the state for over a month and nearly two lakh security forces that have come from outside. West Bengal touched nearly 88,000 active cases on April 25, with a projection of the number crossing the one lakh-mark by the time the last vote is cast here on April 29.

The campaign for the last two phases was also marked by a virtual-heavy campaign by the BJP, while Banerjee opted for press conferences with her candidates in various districts to send across a larger message, since the Election Commission’s ban on road shows and big physical rallies.

The last two phases of the West Bengal elections comprise 71 seats, with 36 seats polling on April 26 and 35 seats on March 29, but the campaign for the last phase will also end on April 26 given the extended 72-hour silence period fixed by the Election Commission.

Muslim-dominated districts of Malda and Murshidabad, 11 urban seats of Kolkata and the Birbhum district are polling in the last two phases, with 22 seats in Murshidabad, 12 in Malda and 11 in Kolkata, where the Trinamool Congress made good ground in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

With Union Home Minister Amit Shah away from West Bengal since the last two days, BJP chief Nadda has taken over the mantle of the campaign in the last two phases and held three virtual rallies in the state on April 26. He will hold three more virtual rallies on April 26 for the last phase before ending the BJP’s campaign with a press conference in Kolkata.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, Suvendu Adhikari and Mithun Chakraborty have, however, continued with their physical public meetings in the state, which BJP claims did not involve more than 500 people. But the Trinamool Congress has alleged that the Election Commission guidelines have been violated by these BJP campaigners.

Banerjee held a press conference in Bolpur with all candidates of Birbhum district on April 24, one in Murshidabad with the candidates of that district on April 25 and will hold another one in April 26 in Kolkata.

Check Moneycontrol’s full coverage of the 2021 assembly election here