Mamata wins West Bengal but loses in Nandigram

 

The News Cover: On one hand where the cases of coronavirus infections are being counted in the country, On the other hand, on 2nd May the election results were counted from whose rallies the coronavirus actually spread. And the results are very shocking. If we talk especially of West Bengal, Everything predicted by the exit polls turned out to be wrong. Not one or two, all of the exit polls failed badly. They predicted that TMC would get at most 180 seats. But in reality, TMC got an almost two-thirds majority. 

Not only did they cross the 200 marks, But their performance also was better than in the last Bengal election. Not only the media, the Home Minister of the country, Amit Shah, had also predicted the result very confidently after every phase of the elections. After the first phase, he had said the BJP will win 26 out of the 30 seats. After five phases he had said that BJP had already won 122 seats. And overall he had said that BJP will cross the 200 marks. But this did not happen. Often politicians put across such claims to build up the narrative. So that there is good momentum in the elections.

 It's not a big deal. But there was one prediction where big stakes were involved. The predictions of the political strategist Prashant Kishore. He had said that BJP will not cross the 100 mark. The number of seats they win will not be in 3 digits. If they do win, he'll leave his profession. Not only did his predictions come true. But they came true at the time when the whole media ran with the exact opposite claim. After winning the election, he accused the Election Commission of a very serious crime. Generally, it is when parties lose the election that they blame the EVMs or Election Commission. But here, even after winning with a two-thirds majority, he said that the Election Commission tried its best to help BJP win.

 And this happened for the very first time in the history of the country. That the Election Commission was so biased towards a party. "With a blatant - blatantly partial Election Commission, We went through hell. They allowed - they gave the free hand to BJP to do whatever they wanted to do." He gave several reasons for this. First, stretching the election for 8 phases. Just take the scheduling of the election, 8 rounds, in the pandemic time, what made you do this? Only because you wanted to give more opportunities to the BJP leaders to come and campaign. Second, designing the election phases in such a way that in the first couple of phases the areas where BJP is stronger goes to the election. 

And in the areas and districts where TMC is strong, conducting elections in each of those districts in four phases there. So that no momentum can be build up. In the last, so many years, when a district was carved out in four phases? Just because the district was supposedly seen as a Trinamool stronghold. That district polled in four phases? Just because you wanted to have 4 seats, 5 seats, 10 seats so that no momentum can be built in favor of Trinamool. The bulk of the seats that BJP won in Lok Sabha went for poll early. Is it a coincidence? Third, using religion, all the religious politics used during the campaigning allowing it to continue. 

And not taking any action against those politicians that are politicizing Hindus-Muslims. If we talk about religious politics, then some people are still trying to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims even after this election. It is especially seen frequently by the BJP supporters. They're saying that the TMC's win in the election is because of their minority vote bank. That all the Muslims come together to vote for TMC. And these same people curse Hindus for not voting for their party. They wonder if the people know that the Hindus in Bengal are in danger. That all the Hindus should come together to vote for their party. 

This same strategy is used every time in every state. They believe that they can scare and fool Hindus to get their votes. But let me tell you the reality, friends. In Bengal, 70% of the population is Hindu. And if you see the vote share of TMC, it is almost touching 50%. By seeing this you might say that around 20% of the Hindus voted for TMC. But even simple maths doesn't show the reality. In many seats in the South West area of Bengal, the Muslim population is less than 5%. But see that all the seats there have been won by TMC by a large margin. This data clearly shows that labeling everything as Hindu or Muslim needs to be stopped. Even though BJP lost in West Bengal if you see the overall results of all the five states, Then it is not an embarrassing defeat for BJP. 

They have become the main opposition party in West Bengal. They had won less than 10 seats in the last election. Apart from this, the BJP Alliances have clearly won Assam and Puducherry. And reality, friends, is that this is more of a loss for Congress than BJP. Congress lost the States of Assam and Puducherry. And in West Bengal, they lost their role as the opposition. And in Kerala, LDF's victory was historic. For the last 40 years in Kerala, 

LDF and UDF have been winning alternatively. But this time it didn't happen and LDF won its second continuous term. This is also a big loss for Congress. If Congress really wants to win, then they need strong local leaders. It has been seen time and again in the last several elections. Wherever there has been a strong opposition leader, it was easy to defeat BJP. Be it Amarinder Singh of Punjab. Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.

Nandigram Chaos, Huge Security As Mamata Banerjee Visits Poll Booth

 

The News Cover: CRP police, all kinds of central paramilitary forces, marching into the loyal accounting center over here is the counting center they are marching in there literally to rescue Mamta Banerjee who has been stuck there for over one hour caught between two quarters a Kurukshetra if I have ever seen one in the middle of what is supposed to be a completely democratic process of electing leaders. 

the trouble at boy all started around 1:30-2:00 clock when Mamta Banerjee came here to register her protest against reports that her polling agent was not allowed into this particular booth and that's when the first stop when she came out of her home this afternoon was here she came in down the road over here on a wheelchair which is at least a kilometer and a half and then suddenly villagers erupted over here and started shouting jay Sriram slogans 

let me show you they are still there the police have managed to push them. back a little but not much they are all over there sporadically shouting Jai Shri ram slogans even now a whole bunch of villagers who seem to be very angry with Mamta Banerjee here they are security forces in growing numbers keeping them back 

so this is where you have the bjp supporters and on my right over there you have the trinomial supporters and the police security forces posted, in between to ensure there is no clash and all this while since about two o'clock in the afternoon Mamta Banerjee has been stuck inside 

the polling booth and she has been talking to multiple leaders i know that I heard her speak to the governor and she complained to him that this was a failure of the election commission of the administration that the election commission was in charge of that she feared for her life and you know felt that the election commission should respond and here 

we have a situation when a huge police force has arrived a few minutes ago with a huge contingent and election officials they have gone in and met Mamta Banerjee now we are waiting to see what happens next i can see that the officials have stepped out of the booth we'll have to see what they do to control the situation and get the chief minister out of here

Mamata Banerjee vs PM Modi: What's The Writing On The Wall?

 

The News Cover: a political slogan, that seems to have caught the attention of not even not just pole managers. but even artists in Kolkata, we are in Kolkata we did manage to see big hoardings of Narendra Modi only two faces Narendra Modi, on one side month of energy on the other right huge posters huge post there's a poster war happening in Kolkata. 

I'm sure it's happening in the rest of West Bengal. as well but largely in Kolkata gone are ads, of real estate properties, gone are the ads of perfume sprays soaps now it's only two faces on the streets Mamta of energy so it's a two-person personality contest but how this messaging can be seen on the walls the writing on the wall for some at least not all can be seen right here.

so messaging at various levels, not just those big posters but right here if you recall this was the the very famous times. of india cartoon of mamta banerjee with a pair of slippers and also a plaster on the other leg with a football and her political slogan keller hobe so this has been painted on the walls so it's not just it is not just about  about those big posters but this subtle messaging also cost efficient messaging also which can be seen on the streets i'm sure there will be some places where the bjp would have also used the same messaging take a look at this one for instance.

at this one for instance you've got month of energy with a plaster cast on a wheelchair saying namaste so anyone who's crossing this extremely narrow street this is the heart of kolkata extremely busy intersection extremely busy road you can see that the people who stay here such narrow lanes huge population right and once they will come out of these narrow lanes and violence through these roads

they will not just see those big posters but also this subtle messaging should this be seen as the writing on the wall or is this an attempt to perhaps convince people as i said and i want to say this out loud we have been able to spot this message just by chance i'm pretty sure that this form of messaging would be done by the other political parties as well particularly the main rival this time around for month energy the bhartiya janata party 

we'll get you all the latest reports from our three or four day tour right here where we crisscross not just kolkata but also neighboring areas go to pole bound Nandigram get you other reports also get you the cast time remember it's not just hindu and muslim that you always keep sharing there's a very very crucial caste dynamics which are also at play so what are those cast dynamics what is the strategy as far as these two players are concerned

Claims Mamata Banerjee Leg Injury',I Was Attacked In Nandigram

 

The News Cover: They did it deliberately. I am having chest pain let me return to Kolkata mamata banerjee sustained injurries in leg after she was allegedly 'pushed' in nandigram this comes hours after the bengal cm filed her nomination from the assembly constituency,

the TMC supremo was supposed to stay in nandigram and return to kolkata on thursday banerjee, however, said that she would be returning to kolkata on wednesday night itself 

there were no police at the spot. i was standing here with the door of my car open i was dellberately pushed by 4-5 people. my leg is swollen and it is painful. i am returning back to kolkata.

i am feeling feverish "jan bujh ke kya (they did it deliberately) i am having chest pain. please let me return to kolkata. Earlier on wednesday, posters projecting banerjee as an 'outsider' surfaced in nandigram banerjee takes on her former aide suvendu adhikari, now in bjp, from nandigram seat nandigram assembly seat, that is set for a high-octane battle, will see voting on april 1.