'Fish Politics' To Infiltrators: NDTV Exclusive With Trinamool's Shashi Panja

With the first phase of assembly elections due on Thursday, the ruling Trinamool Congress is engaged in a vigorous ground campaign to retain power in West Bengal against a determined push by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Dr Shashi Panja, a senior minister in the Mamata Banerjee government responsible for women and child development as well as industries and commerce, speaking exclusively with NDTV's Editor-In-Chief and CEO Rahul Kanwal, dismissed suggestions of overconfidence within the TMC and pointed to the party's sustained work over 15 years.

"We are absolutely immersed in a very hectic and an intense campaign. Believe me, we are absolutely on the ground and on the ground, it's Trinamool Congress with its meetings, with its door-to-door campaigns, with the rallies and of course, appealing to the voters for votes," she said.

The BJP entered the 2021 assembly election with 77 seats. It has since lost all 21 by-elections held in the state. Dr Panja highlighted this record when asked whether the party's graph was rising while the Trinamool's was falling.

"Twenty-one by-elections lost by BJP after 2021. That's also the graph that you should look at. Why have they lost all of the by-elections if there is so much goodwill and confidence that people have in them?" she said.

She attributed the TMC's position to consistent effort rather than overconfidence. 

"It's not a question of overconfidence or something. We have worked, it is a sustained work throughout the past five years, if you see the previous term and then 15 years. And Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has reached every household of the state," she said. 

Dr Panja rejected much of the BJP's campaign as rhetoric and "wrong branding" of the state, including repeated references to "Ghuspetia" (infiltrators). She invited closer examination of on-the-ground activity. 

The BJP has made women's safety a major campaign issue, citing the RG Kar incident and other cases. Dr Panja, who handles women's safety in the government and studied at RG Kar, condemned the RG Kar case but said the BJP was not in a position to lecture on the subject.

"The incident is gruesome, and we have condemned it in the strongest language with our heart and soul. But since you mentioned that BJP is trying to make that an issue... I think they should be the last people to speak about this," she said. 

She pointed to National Crime Records Bureau data from BJP-ruled states and the language used against Mamata Banerjee. 

"The NCRB data in the BJP-ruled states is not very pleasant. And I think the respect that they offer when it comes to a woman leader, like Mamata Banerjee, calling her by the name, calling her by her first name," she said. 

A major point of contention is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Dr Panja alleged large-scale deletions of genuine voters, with 8 lakh to 11 lakh names in adjudication. She dismissed BJP claims of removing 50 per cent of the electorate as exaggeration and said it was around 10 per cent.

"But they have not mentioned who the illegal people were, who the Ghuspetiyas were, who the Bangladeshis were. Supreme Court has categorically mentioned that if you delete somebody, you have to give a reasoned order... We are yet to receive any such reason," she said.

On the BJP's shift from "Jai Shri Ram" to "Jai Maa Kali" to appeal to Bengali identity, Dr Panja said worship should be universal and not state-based. TMC campaigns begin from temples, she noted, and her own constituency is predominantly Hindu. Hindu and Muslim women had both been deleted from voter lists in her area. 

The TMC has highlighted dietary issues, claiming BJP-ruled states targeted Bengali migrant workers. Dr Panja referred to past questions about feeding eggs to children in government schools.

"Why are they interfering with the dietary choice of a person?... BJP has constantly been trying to interfere into the dietary habits of the people of Bengal," she alleged. 

Bengal is set to vote in two phases -- April 23 and 29 -- with both parties intensifying efforts in what is expected to be a closely fought contest, particularly in South Bengal, where the TMC has so far contained the BJP's advance more effectively than in the north.