With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensifying its activities in poll-bound West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress on Sunday launched a new tri-weekly video campaign to highlight the state government’s performance.
Called Shoja Banglay Bolchi (straight talk in Bengali) the campaign features a series of short data-based videos complete with graphics and background score. The first video claims that unemployment rate in Bengal during the Covid-19 pandemic is low in comparison with figures in BJP-ruled states. The BJP, however, is not named in the video.
The videos will appear on social media every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, Rajya Sabha member and TMC’s national spokesperson Derek O’Brien, who hosts the campaign, wrote on Twitter.
In the 41-second video O’Brien says, “According to the report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, unemployment rate in Bengal in June was 6.5% whereas it was 11% nationally.”
Unemployment rate was 9.6% in Uttar Pradesh, 9.2% in Karnataka, 8.2% in Madhya Pradesh and 33% in Haryana, says the MP. The figures also appear on the screen.
“I am talking straight. Just think about it. Stay safe. Stay well,” O’Brien says at the end.
Bengal BJP leadership called the campaign a useless exercise and said it comes at a time when people can see the Mamata Banerjee government making futile attempts to combat the Covid-19 crisis.
“This sort of useless exercise means nothing to people. Around 10 lakh migrant workers returned during the lockdown. O’Brien should first explain why these 10 lakh people left Bengal for work if employment rate is so high here,” said Bengal BJP vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar.
“This must be another brainchild of election strategist Prashant Kishor who has been roped in by Banerjee. What can be more shameful for her than the fact that she has to depend on someone who came from Bihar while her party claims that she has the final word in Bengal politics,” said Majumdar.
The BJP leader also took a jibe at O’Brien for his Bengali accent. “Since they say that it is straight talk in Bengali the videos should feature someone who can properly pronounce Bengali words,” quipped Majumdar.
HT tried to contact O’Brien for his reaction but he did not take calls or reply to a text message.
