TMC’s new outreach effort: Abhishek Banerjee to embark on Bengal yatra, hold vote to select party’s panchayat candidates

“Every day, I will be addressing three to four rallies. I will stay on the road, meet people and take part in community dinners,” Abhishek, who is the nephew of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, told mediapersons here.
Abhishek’s “Jana Sanjog Yatra” is part of a fresh round of a mass outreach campaign — ‘Trinamooley Nabajowar’ (a new wave in the Trinamool) — launched by the party ahead of the panchayat elections.

The other significant component of the campaign is “Gram Banglar Motamot” (Opinion of rural Bengal) – a referendum-like initiative wherein people will choose TMC candidates for the panchayat elections.

“It is a first-of-its-kind referendum, which will be held to finalise candidates for the panchayat polls. The people can participate in a secret ballot to recommend the right candidate for the three-tier panchayat polls,” Abhishek said, adding TMC is the “first party to provide a platform to the people at the grassroots level to voice their opinion”.

“In the referendum, the party members from each Gram Panchayat will participate in a secret ballot to recommend the right candidates for Zilla Parishad Members, Panchayat Samiti Members and Gram Panchayat Members… We are the first party in India who will choose their candidates according to people’s choice,” the TMC said in a statement.

According to the party, a series of activities will be held during the yatra, including a bus yatra through a curated cluster of panchayats, block-level public meetings, district-level party Adhiveshan where the referendum will be held, community dinners and night stay at the Adhiveshan Camp.

“The goal of this campaign is to constitute a people’s panchayat. During my public meetings over the past year, I have reiterated that panchayat polls will be conducted in a democratic, free, fair, and peaceful manner. With the launch of this campaign on April 25, we are going a step further and taking people’s opinions into account while selecting the candidates,” Abhishek said.

“In the Indian political scenario, when it comes to deciding candidates for elections across various levels, the decisions are taken behind closed doors through centralisation of power and are based on the recommendations of district and block leadership. For the first time in India, we have set out to take the opinion of the people on candidates for gram panchayats to ensure, in the truest sense, a people’s panchayat.”

“There are over 60,000 rural booths across the state. People will decide who will be their candidates in these booths. If somebody is unable to attend the Adhiveshan or Jan Sabha due to the prevailing weather conditions, they can submit their suggestions on this online platform,” he added.

Denying that the campaign was an attempt by his party to firefight the corruption charges, the TMC general secretary said: “Not a single party can say there are no corrupt persons in their party. But the main thing we have is our zero tolerance towards corruption.”

“My party has been in power in West Bengal for three terms, and there’s ample time till the next Assembly elections. I could have sat in the comfort of my home, but I will be doing this exercise because my duty to the people transcends electoral victories. Delivering optimal governance is the need of the hour, and for that, I stand here amongst you all,” he added.

This is the fifth mass outreach campaign launched by the TMC in the last four years.