BJP's Nisith Pramanik Confident of Re-election Bid Amidst Political Challenges

After serving as a Union minister for three years, Nisith Pramanik, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party, seems to have gained the necessary confidence to return to his constituents' homes and run for reelection to the lower house of Parliament.

Despite Pramanik's shorter than ten-year political career, the sitting MP from Cooch Behar claims that he is primarily responsible for the party's electoral success in north Bengal.

"My time as a minister after the Covid-19 outbreak and as an MP have been a learning curve throughout," Pramanik told PTI. "If people re-elect me to Parliament, I feel confident in my ability to implement new ideas in that domain because of the intense learning I've received in various sensitive aspects of statecraft during this time." The 38-year-old leader claimed that working with Home Minister Amit Shah gave him deep insight into delicate issues like border security, working with central agencies, and policies concerning India's internal security. The leader has held positions as a Union minister of state in both the Home Ministry and the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.

"On his own, Amit Shah is an institution. I consider myself lucky to have participated in a broad intellectual process that is influencing the course of our country. I've been put to the test both on and off the House floor, where I had to respond to pointed questions from more experienced members. In an interview, Pramanik said, "I believe I have developed well to play an effective role in national politics."

After being expelled from the Trinamul Congress after the 2018 West Bengal panchayat elections, Pramanik joined the BJP. In the 2019 general elections, he surprised Paresh Adhikary, his closest TMC competitor, by winning by a margin of more than 54,000 votes.

After a change in the Union cabinet two years later, at the age of 35, he achieved the distinction of being the youngest member of Narendra Modi's council of ministers.

Pramanik justified his control over Cooch Behar's political scene by saying, "I have never skipped a step in climbing the political ladder, in organisational as well as electoral politics." This, he claimed, made up for his relative inexperience in comparison to some of the other state leaders.

In a kind of meteoric ascension, Pramanik began as a booth president and worked his way up to become the state head of the BJP in West Bengal. He said that, in the field of electoral politics, he was first elected to the position of panchayat upa-pradhan in his own area. He then went on to become an MP and, eventually, a Union minister.

"I might not have as many days in politics as some people in this state do." However, I have never stayed apart from the general public. As a grassroots leader, Pramanik said, "My long-term relationship with my people allows me to deeply comprehend their pulse and emotions."

However, the BJP politician disclosed in his nomination statement that he is facing 14 criminal proceedings, nine of which were filed between 2018 and 2020. The charges include everything from home trespassing and illegal assembly to murder attempt and riots.

In the attempt to murder case brought against him in 2018, Pramanik was granted anticipatory release by the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court as late as January 25 of this year.

The BJP candidate seems unmoved by the disclosures, even though the TMC is thrilled about them and intends to exploit them against Pramanik during campaigning.

Pramanik said, "These are false cases and lodged with the motive of political vendetta," adding that such humiliations are a normal aspect of opposition politics in West Bengal.

My thoughts are no longer dominated by such trivial politics. Pramanik said, "I am concentrated on how effectively I can contribute to Modiji's appeal for 'Viksit Bharat' and realize his aim of making the nation a developed one before we commemorate our independence's centennial in 2024.

However, Jagadish Basunia of the TMC, who is challenging him, believes the BJP leader has already fallen short of his mission.

Since taking office as an MP, he has broken every promise he made to his constituents. In Cooch Behar, hardly a single central development initiative has truly taken off. Basunia said, "He hasn't even succeeded in getting an assurance from the Center regarding the Rajbanshi language being included in the Constitution's Eighth Schedule."

According to the Panchayat election figures, TMC had a sizable advantage of 3.5 lakh votes in the district, and he predicted that Pramanik will not win this time.

Naturally, Pramanik thinks otherwise. "We've already addressed the shortcomings we found. There were several irregularities in the panchayat polls, and they don't serve as a predictor of the Lok Sabha elections. People are prepared to remove the corrupt TMC because they have made up their minds, he said.