2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
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Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in West Bengal in 2021.[1]
Background
In the previous elections in 2016, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) retained its majority in the Legislative Assembly.[2] Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won only three of the 294 elected seats in 2016, in the 2019 general elections it won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.[3]
In the 2019 Indian general election, the BJP emerged as the main opposition in West Bengal and narrowing the vote margin against the ruling Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress government by bagging 40 percent vote share. BJP's major inroads in the West Bengal were credited to the image of Narendra Modi government and its welfare schemes which were largely benefited by the poor people belonging from the rural parts of West Bengal as visible by the BJP's performance in the rural parts of the West Bengal. Apart from that BJP raised allegations of Muslim appeasement against Mamata Banerjee for paying salaries to imams and muezzins every month[4] which was later scraped by the Kolkata High Court[5], not taking action against the 2016 Kaliachak riots, 2016 Dhulagarh riots rioters in which houses, shops belonging to Hindus were selectively attacked and burnt. BJP alleged Mamata Banerjee didn't take action against the rioters because they belonged to Muslim community. BJP after forming government at center, fulfilled their long time promises like removal of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, Article 35A of the Constitution of India, criminalising Triple talaq in India, amending the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 promising citizenship to religiously persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis from the neighboring Islamic countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan as they are the minority community in these 3 countries and due to their dwindling population and religious persecution they are fleeing to take shelter in India. BJP expects to gain from the votes of these communities and hoping to win the election. Mamata Banerjee fought back by upholding her secular credentials and continuously organising rallies and meeting trying to woo both the Muslim and Hindu vote. As the bordering districts of West Bengal contains a huge number of Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh which were given voter IDs during the CPI(M) government in West Bengal against which Mamata Banerjee raised here voice in Lok Sabha in 2005 stating "The infiltration in Bengal has become a disaster now. I have both the Bangladeshi & the Indian voters list. This is a very serious matter. I would like to know when would it be discussed in the House?” she also said "The ruling CPI-M were benefiting from illegal Bangladeshis as they have been a vote bank for the Left party"[6][7]. BJP blamed her for taking a U-turn now on the issue of bangladeshi immigrants as they has become a votebank for her and she wishes to win the elections with their support[8].[9][10]
See Also
- 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
- 2021 elections in India
- 2019 Indian general election in West Bengal
- 2018 West Bengal Panchayat elections
References
- ^ "BJP preparing blueprint for 2021 West Bengal polls". Economic Times. 9 June 2019.
- ^ "West Bangal General Legislative Election 2016". Election Commission of India.
- ^ "West Bengal election results: With 18 seats and 40% vote share, BJP snaps at TMC heels". Times of India. 24 May 2019.
- ^ Standard, Business. "After imams muezzins in west bengal to be paid honorarium". business-standard.com.
{{cite web}}:|first1=has generic name (help) - ^ Times, Hindustan. "HC scraps WB govt's monthly allowance for imams". hindustantimes.com.
- ^ Times, Hindustan. "2005 and now Mamata Banerjee's u-turn on bangladeshi immigrants". hindustantimes.com.
- ^ "What Mamata Banerjee Said Of Bangladeshi Immigrants In 2005". ndtv.com. Retrieved 2 August, 2018.
{{cite web}}:|first1=missing|last1=(help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Times, Economic. "Mamata Banerjee eyeing bangladeshi vote to win 2019 general elections:BJP". economictimes.indiatimes.com.
- ^ Romita Datta, Why no one will douse the CAA fire in Bengal, India Today, 10 January 2020.
- ^ Kaushik Deka, Who is (not) a citizen?, India Today, 10 January 2020.