BJP workers fear being targeted over campaign to display party flags on homes: West Bengal unit

Kolkata, Feb 14: The BJP's country-wide 'mass mobilisation' campaign asking partymen to display party flags on their homes and vehicles has led to apprehension in its West Bengal unit that party workers and sympathizers may be targeted by rival TMC especially in areas with a history of political violence.

State BJP leaders said Thursday that workers from various districts have conveyed that they will be "vulnerable to TMC's reign of terror" if they reveal their political affiliation, a charge dismissed by the ruling party in West Bengal which accused the BJP of trying to foment communal violence in the state.

The BJP campaign 'Mera Pariwar, Bhajapa Pariwar' was launched by party president Amit Shah in Gujarat on Wednesday and seeks to cover over five crore houses by March 2 before the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedule.

As a part of the campaign, the party's Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh and many other senior state BJP leaders have unfurled the party flag at their homes and put party stickers on their houses and vehicles.

"We have asked our party workers and supporters to hoist party flag at their homes and put stickers on their houses and vehicles. We are receiving a huge response," Ghosh said.

However, according to BJP sources, its leaders have received communications from party workers in various districts of the state wherein they have expressed their inability to take part in the programme as it might "reveal the identity" of party sympathizers and leave its workers at the grassroots levels vulnerable to "violence from TMC".

"We have told everybody to take part in the programme. Our workers are not afraid of anyone, despite the reign of terror and the threat of being implicated in false cases. But if in some areas someone is facing any problem then he should refrain from taking part in the campaign for the time being and take part in it later," Ghosh said.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP are engaged in a bitter political battle in West Bengal. BJP president Amit Shah has set a target of winning more than 23 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while TMC organized a mega rally of opposition parties here on January 19 and gave the call to oust the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

The BJP which had put up a good show in last year's Pancahayat polls and had emerged as the main challenger of TMC in the state, has lost several of its workers in the last year's panchayat poll violence. Hundreds of BJP workers are still homeless in various parts of the state, party leader claim.

"We had received huge votes in areas which were once considered to be TMC stronghold. Now if our party sympathizers take part in this campaign they will get identified. We don't want that, their safety and security is also of prime concern for us," another senior state BJP leader said.

Reacting to BJP's allegation, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said people of Bengal stand with Mamata Banerjee and BJP is "living in a fool's paradise" if it thinks it has a huge support base in Bengal.

Chatterjee said "In terms of popularity and vote share, TMC is way ahead of its rivals in the state. We don't believe in politics of violence. Their(BJP's) attempts to create communal violence in the state will be defeated by the people of Bengal," he said.

PTI