West Bengal is heading towards the second phase of the assembly election. Away from the limelight of the duels of Mamata vs Suvendu, some finer developments are occurring at places like Siuri, Birbhum.

The candidate-lists released by BJP led to what can be called counter-campaign of sorts, triggered by the anger over the lists. In Birbhum, a few days back, a common message was being spread through various means, “Aadi BJP dichhe daak, Bonge eibar Didi thaak”. The message translates into “it is the call of the old guard of BJP, that Didi (Mamata) stays in Bengal.” After the circulation of this message through wall-graffitis, and social media, the state BJP leadership is caught in a fix, embarrassed.

A Facebook page named BJYM Birbhum had been campaigning for the BJP candidates and on the same page, the message in favour of Mamata Banerjee was flashed. Though it has not been confirmed whether the page is being managed by the Birbhum unit of BJP IT cell, that message pitching for the return of Mamata Banerjee by the Old-guard BJP had created a flurry in the local flow of information through SM. After creating a hue and cry over the social media in West Bengal circles, the message was taken down from the Facebook page.

Over the years, Siuri had seen an increase in the influence of the BJP. Local BJP leaders and their associates in Siuri stated a common view that the former Congress, TMC and Left-front workers and leaders (currently in BJP) who had been taking the bashing, beating, & castigations at the hands of TMC should have been given tickets by the BJP high-command for the ongoing election. But, that did not happen. Hence, the tide is against BJP in such places, where people (who recently joined BJP) are discontented with the saffron brigade.

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Violence on discontentment

After the announcement of the second list by BJP with 157 names, across various districts in West Bengal displeased local BJP-workers had started their rampage in the BJP offices. North Bengal had seen the first spate of violence. Jalpaiguri and Harishchandrapur in Maldah also witnessed violence in BJP-offices.

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The Jalpaiguri office was set ablaze by the local leaders & BJP-party workers. The table, chairs were smashed and the posters of Modi & Dilip Ghosh were torn down to pieces. District Vice president (Jalpaiguri) Alok Chakraborty had said, “The central leadership cannot have their whims and fancies.” Harishchandrapur saw a similar reaction with the party-workers carrying out mayhem at the party office. Slogans of “Dhikkar” were shouted against the North Maldah MP Khogen Murmu. The local leaders there accused that tickets were given in lieu of money. In this context, the TMC leader Mousam Nur had stated, “Our (TMC’s) fight became easier in Maldah.” In Sahapur, Maldah, the electoral office was rampaged by around 200 BJP-party workers.

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South Bengal also saw similar reactions from the displeased party workers of BJP. The party office in Durgapur was locked down. Selection of independent candidates had begun in order to teach the high command of BJP a lesson. Places like Ranaghat and Kalyani also saw outburst of displeasure of the local BJP-workers. In Murshidabad, demand was raised to change the candidate.