Modi’s Bengal rally draws few people, ominous for BJP: report

\The BJP is slowly but surely seeing its dreams of capturing 23 seats in West Bengal getting bitten by the realities of Bengal’s grassroot politics. The signals had come earlier with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) star campaigner Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath drawing a crowd of a few hundred in Bongaon in West Bengal.

Then party national president Amit Shah’s Kalyani and Ghatal election rallies drew some 250-odd people each. Now the most ominous signal has arrived for the BJP with the party’s poll mascot Prime Minister failing to fill even a corner of the field in Purulia on Thursday, May 9, according to a report by Ei Samay, the Bengali daily from the Times of India Group of publications

And in the Bankura rally of the Prime Minister on the same day, the crowd was less than 200, sources told National Herald.

It is true the heat in Purulia and Bankura is sweltering, with the mercury in the high 40’s. But the state BJP considers Purulia to be its safest seat in West Bengal. That said, the ground should have been swarming with BJP supporters. A crowd of a few thousands here indeed is not a good sign for the party.

People have been making fun of such dismal turnouts on the social media.

Arka Saha wrote: This is the ‘grand rally’ of our respected Narendra Modi. Even a booth committee meeting in our ward pulls a bigger crowd.