Kolkata, February 25 – The West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is focusing on specific, local issues within the state to finalize the draft election manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections.
“While there are certain overarching issues that are common across all zones and areas in West Bengal, given the current complex political situation, there are also region-specific issues. Therefore, our focus this time is to highlight these specific local issues and how we propose to address them in our manifesto,” said a member of the state BJP committee, who is actively involved in preparing the party's manifesto.
At the same time, he added that there is an effort to create a separate mini-manifesto specifically covering the issues in the eight districts of North Bengal, namely Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Malda.
“The main and detailed manifesto covering the state-wide issues will, of course, be there. But this time, we will also be releasing a mini-manifesto covering the issues in North Bengal,” the state committee member said.
According to Shankar Ghosh, the Chief Whip of the BJP's legislative party in the Assembly, and a party legislator from the Siliguri constituency in North Bengal, the plan for a separate North Bengal-specific manifesto is being drawn up, keeping in mind the needs, demands, and aspirations of the people in the region.
“As you are aware, our party is conducting a ‘Sankalp Patra Paramarsha Yatra’ (Manifesto Consultation Drive), under which drop boxes have been placed in various locations across West Bengal to seek people's opinions on the election manifesto. Based on the important suggestions received from these drop boxes in North Bengal, we plan to release a separate North Bengal-specific manifesto this time,” Ghosh said.
Political observers feel that this separate North Bengal-specific manifesto is also being prompted by the fact that while the Trinamool Congress is ahead of the BJP in South Bengal, the situation is reversed in North Bengal.
“Even in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, the Trinamool Congress swept most districts, except for a few like Bankura, Purulia, and East Midnapore. The BJP maintained its dominance in North Bengal, winning 30 out of the 54 Assembly constituencies. Maintaining this electoral dominance in North Bengal is very important for the BJP this time, and the proposal for a separate North Bengal-specific manifesto is driven by these considerations,” said a city-based political observer.
