Calcutta:
With its 48 seats, West Bengal is the third largest contributor of MPs to the Lok Sabha, but what has made the state even more important and interesting in these Lok Sabha elections is the closely fought battle between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, with neither party is willing to do that. to give a quarter.
During DailyExpertNews's special show 'Battleground' on Saturday, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, a panel of experts and spokespersons of the BJP and TMC dissected every issue that could play a role in both parties gaining the upper hand. thoughts on what drives violence during elections in West Bengal
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – and a presidential-style contest between them – dominated the discussion, the two other key points that received a lot of attention were the Sandeshkhali controversy and the welfare politics of both parties.
Everyone, except the spokespersons of course, seemed to agree that the battle in the state will be neck and neck and the battle will be one of slim margins.
Of the state's 42 seats, 22 were won by the Trinamool Congress in 2019 and the BJP had made tremendous progress and emerged victorious in 18 seats. Instead of resting on its laurels, the BJP has since been relentless in its quest to increase its vote share. . but the Trinamool Congress has also fought tooth and nail to hold its ground.
Sanjay Kumar, professor at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), pointing out how razor-thin the margins are in the state, said: “West Bengal is a state where the regional party is very strong but the BJP is a fierce battle The BJP has defeated the Congress in many states but seems to be on the back foot when it comes to battling regional parties, but Bengal is an exception. I think there is a neck-and-neck fight, it is a battlefield in the real sense.”
“There is a battle for every seat. In 2019, the difference in vote share between the parties was only three percent. The difference in seats was also only four. In any case, if the votes fluctuate by 2 percent… the BJP's vote share goes up by 2 to 3 percent, the TMC may lose 7 to 8 seats and if the opposite happens and the BJP loses 4 to 5 percent of the votes, these are reduced to single figures,” he said.
'Violence destroys society'
Mr Pugalia pointed out that there is a divide in the sense that while Bengal is considered a leader in terms of culture and self-respect, it is also one of the most violent states when it comes to political violence. To this, political analyst Swapan Dasgupta said the violence is a legacy of the Left, which ruled Bengal for decades and even the Trinamool was a victim of it when it fought the CPM.
“Some of these crude methods have unfortunately become the new norm in West Bengal and I think this is something that, regardless of which side you favor, there needs to be unanimity on stopping the violence. This harms society,” he said.
Referring to an interesting statistic, Mr. Dasgupta said that no national party ever won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha of West Bengal in 1971. He also said that caste, besides class – which was the dominant narrative of the CPM – was also an entry in Bengal in 2019.