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The first two election rallies of this season by the BJP’s chief campaigner indicate wrinkles have been ironed out, assuming the state BJP has got its act together
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the people of West Bengal are now turning towards the BJP with hope. (Photo: BJP/X)
In 2021, I attended most of the Prime Minister’s political rallies in West Bengal as a journalist. I listened to recordings of the few rallies I missed. What was common to them? The Modi euphoria? The Trinamool Congress would call it manufactured. But having witnessed it myself, seeing women sitting in 42 degrees centigrade heat clutching a BJP flag just to catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister from 300 metres away, and hearing his surname chanted endlessly, often interrupting his speeches, was surreal. He carried a charisma that no other BJP leader had, exciting both a 23-year-old college student and her 73-year-old grandmother alike.
However, many who have been born and raised in Bengal noticed a disconnect during those election rallies. This disconnect was not due to the speaker but the quality of inputs shared with his team about the state and districts where the rallies took place. After listening to the first two election rallies of this season by the BJP’s chief campaigner, it is safe to say those wrinkles have been ironed out, assuming the state BJP has got its act together. Some fundamental and subtle changes in inputs have resulted in communication that appears much more in sync with Bengal, not forced. The election is expected to be seven to eight months away, and much will change in between. Both the BJP and the TMC will deliver excellent examples of communication masterclasses as well as absolute gaffes. Here are five initial takeaways on why Modi in 2025 is way better than Modi in 2021 when it comes to Bengal.
1. No direct attack on Mamata
One of the biggest mistakes of the BJP in the 2021 campaign was to attack Mamata Banerjee directly. The “Didi, O Didi” speeches of the Prime Minister were construed as taunts by a sizeable section of Bengali women, including many fence-sitters for whom it became a decisive factor. Regardless of the corruption charges against the top echelons of the Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee’s image continues to remain that of a lady who wears a cheap sari and cheaper slippers. A large section of Bengalis seems to believe she personally remains free from corruption, while many of her colleagues, like Partha Chatterjee, are accused of large-scale scams.
This insight has been the single biggest aid in the Prime Minister’s communication strategy change in Bengal, where he has started attacking the TMC instead of Banerjee. With many TMC voters also upset with the state of affairs, this strategy may work for the BJP.
2. ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to ‘Jai Ma Kali’
The last assembly election was all about Lord Ram. This assembly election, the BJP has belatedly shifted gears to make it more suitable for the Bengali ethos by evoking Ma Kali, Chandi, Lord Jagannath, among others. “Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Durga!” were the initial words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Durgapur on Friday. The shift was clear. Even the invite sent by the Bengal BJP to Durgapur residents for the PM’s rally began with “Dear Durgapur residents, Bharat Mata Ki Jai! Jai Ma Durga! Jai Ma Kali!”
This shift was seen on the very day Samik Bhattacharya was made the new Bengal BJP president. The stage had a giant Goddess Kali photo at the centre, and he deliberately chose to skip the “Jai Shri Ram” slogan.
3. Focus on industry, jobs
Modi focussed on what actually mattered—bringing back industry to the state and creating more jobs. West Bengal ranks 4th among Indian states as a source of out-migrants for employment, according to Census data and migration studies based on 2011 figures.
On Friday, PM Modi unveiled Rs 5,400 crore developmental projects in Bengal. “Today, the youth of Bengal are forced to leave. They have to go to other states for even smaller jobs. This entire region of Durgapur-Bardhaman-Asansol used to speed up India’s development. But today, instead of new industries, even the old ones are shutting down. Friends, we have to pull Bengal out of this bad phase. Whatever projects started today are symbolic of that. Bengal wants change; Bengal wants development,” he said, catering to both the segment entering the job market and their parents, who have a stake in it.
हमें बंगाल को इस बुरे दौर से बाहर निकालना है, और आज यहां जिन परियोजनाओं की शुरुआत हुई है, वो इसी का प्रतीक है।बंगाल, बदलाव चाहता है।बंगाल, विकास चाहता है।
– पीएम श्री @narendramodi
पूरा देखें: https://t.co/HJZ9wztsq7 #ModiKeChaicheBangla pic.twitter.com/yVgKoQ7OO6
— BJP (@BJP4India) July 18, 2025
4. Women’s security over polarisation
While one should not take the risk of commenting too early in an election, especially in West Bengal, if the first two Modi speeches are any indication, and this trend holds, women’s security appears to be the BJP’s larger bet this election over polarisation. PM Modi, in both speeches, referred to the Murshidabad riot and the alleged botched-up investigation, but the emphasis on women’s security is remarkable and probably deliberate.
The horrific rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital brought the state administration to its knees, and overnight protests across West Bengal, cutting across party lines, became the norm. Another recent gang rape in a law college in Kolkata has revived the memory. Today, while Modi mentioned Murshidabad only briefly, he went to great lengths to express his shock at the lack of women’s security in the state. Whether people believe him or not is another matter, but given that Banerjee’s core vote bank is rural women, it is smart of the BJP to appeal to that crowd rather than to a right-of-centre voter base already on the BJP’s side.
5. Better pronunciation
The Prime Minister’s Bengali pronunciation was a matter of discussion in Bengal during the last election. Sometimes his slight mispronunciations would end up meaning something entirely different, which none in the Bengal BJP would communicate to his team to avoid repetition. One has to give credit to the Prime Minister, who holds rallies in different states and woos different crowds by using local dialects. He cannot be expected to know the nuances of each one of them. Here, the local unit of the BJP should have played a crucial role, but they miserably failed.
But this time, his pronunciation is much better. He is using fewer Bengali phrases compared to 2021, which is a good sign. Most importantly, he is not rushing but taking his time to finish, which suggests he has a better grasp of the phrases he will use than last time. In politics, optics and acoustics matter a lot, and Prime Minister Modi knows this better than most Indian politicians of his time.
Anindya Banerjee, Associate Editor brings over fifteen years of journalistic courage to the forefront. With a keen focus on politics and policy, Anindya has garnered a wealth of experience, with deep throat in …Read More
Anindya Banerjee, Associate Editor brings over fifteen years of journalistic courage to the forefront. With a keen focus on politics and policy, Anindya has garnered a wealth of experience, with deep throat in … Read More
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