Former and future Congress President Rahul Gandhi held his first campaign rally in the state of West Bengal. With his arrival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is all set to wrest power from the incumbent TMC in the state come May 2, breathed a sigh of relief. For as long as Rahul Gandhi avoided the state of West Bengal due to the Congress being in an alliance with the Left in the state but fighting against it in Kerala, the BJP missed the buffoonery of the Congress scion, who has always worked towards ensuring that the BJP sweeps the elections.
Rahul Gandhi has been a fundamental element of all BJP campaigns since 2014. In the Modi era, the propensity of Rahul Gandhi to garner votes for the BJP has been unmatched. Watching him indulge in theatrics and blabber just about anything during poll rallies, the voters are naturally driven away from Congress. In recent times, Rahul Gandhi has come to be identified as a star campaigner of the BJP. But this time around, more than the clownish behaviour of Rahul Gandhi, the BJP is perhaps for the first time also banking on his ability to garner votes for the Congress and its alliance partners.
The BJP will benefit in either of the two scenarios. First, the BJP will get the votes which Rahul Gandhi drives away from the Congress-Left-ISF alliance. The “secular vote” might not come the BJP’s way, but the moderate one most definitely will. Rahul Gandhi has the incredible ability of antagonising voters with his rather brazen and non-issue-based rhetoric. For anyone to think that votes being driven away by Rahul Gandhi would land in the TMC’s pocket would be an ill-informed proposition. The TMC faces massive anti-incumbency in West Bengal, and as such, voters who were voting for the Congress and its allies, but were driven away by Rahul Gandhi, would definitely not go back to voting for their own ruin by casting the ballot in favour of the TMC.
Then, the other scenario is that of the Congress and its alliance partners getting a considerable number of votes, which will of course in the best-case scenario too, be less than the BJP and TMC. Mind you, whatever votes will be going towards the Congress and its alliance will be from the TMC’s kitty. Essentially, the Congress would be a vote-cutter in Bengal, which will incredibly benefit the BJP. For its part, the BJP has a consolidated voter base, which is not going anywhere close to other parties.
Rahul Gandhi seems to have made up his mind to cut TMC votes in Bengal. In line with the same, he mounted an attack against the TMC on Wednesday, and said in Uttar Dinajpur district, “You gave an opportunity to Trinamool but they failed. Has Mamata built roads… colleges? People have to venture out for jobs… this is the only state where you have to pay ‘cut money’ (bribes) to get jobs.”
Rahul Gandhi knows that Mamata Banerjee is faced with an imminent defeat in Bengal. As such, trying to salvage her career by not campaigning in the state would be idiocy of the highest order on his and the Congress’ part. The Congress is now focused on maintaining a respectable voter base in Bengal, and not be a collateral victim of the BJP’s unprecedented offensive against the TMC.
