BJP leads in ‘virtual’ rallies, Oppn to follow suit?

By Apurba Das Gupta

New Delhi With the poll bugle sounded for Bihar by BJP and the same is expected for Bengal by it on Tuesday, the party is ‘ahead’ in the new form of electioneering in the country post-COVID-19- virtual rallies.

After Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s first-ever virtual political rally after Lockdown on Sunday-for Bihar, Mr Shah is scheduled to address another virtual rally today, for Bengal.

According to experts, with social distancing norms in place, conventional politics, which depends on mobilising the masses, faces a tough challenge.

“BJP’s tech-friendly ways have been seen to be aimed at ensuring a fair higher attendance of several lakh people at Mr Shah’s Sunday ‘rally’ through YouTube, Facebook etc than would have possible bussing people to a rally,” observed by some analysts.

However, the Trinamool Congress and the Left parties have branded the move as ‘gimmick.’

Interestingly, a diehard BJP activist has claimed, “With its headstart on social media, BJP’s electioneering during the Covid era could even rival the upcoming US Presidential elections.”

The experts opined that if Opposition parties have far fewer resources, they even cannot afford to be left behind if virtual rallies become the new normal.

They said, “Such is the affinity for political rallies that in 2015 when the alliance of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad routed BJP, the duo addressed a whopping 481 rallies.”

“The same urge and eagerness for political rallies are also evident in Bengal,” the analysts maintained.

Referring to the ‘virtual rallies,’ an opposition leader, on condition of anonymity, remarked, “Where from the BJP is accumulating such huge funds?”

Informatively, with Bihar Assembly elections due in November- by when the Covid-19 threat is unlikely to have passed- the Election Commission has started working out scenarios where polling can be conducted while ensuring physical distancing among voters.

The term of the Bihar Assembly ends on November 29, 2020.

The Assembly elections in another poll-bound state-Bengal- is scheduled to be held in April-May, 2021.

In the previous elections in 2016, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) retained its majority in the Legislative Assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won fourteen of the 294 seats.

However, in the 2019 general elections, the BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, compared to AITC’s 22 seats.

It bagged 40 per cent of the vote by raising allegations of appeasement politics against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(Agencies)