Trinamul's Abhishek Banerjee Claims Peaceful Panchayat Polls, Sparking Controversy

Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of Trinamul, said on Saturday that Bengal's panchayat election in July was bloodless and peaceful, igniting new dissent among the state's political circles.

Before the September 5 byelection, Abhishek, who was in the Jalpaiguri district's Dhupguri on Saturday to support party candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, claimed his party had honored its promise to guarantee that the panchayat polls will take place in a peaceful atmosphere.

"We had promised that people would choose their own candidates, that everyone would cast their own ballots, and that there would be no violence or carnage during the panchayat elections during the 'Trinamuley Janojowar' campaign (a statewide outreach push led by him). It has taken place. Abhishek mentioned during the meeting that we don't need to incite fear in order to win elections.

He provided statistics to support his claim that the rural elections were calm and that many other political parties participated.

"Since 1978, this is the first election in Bengal when opposition parties have been able to submit as many nominations—more than twice as many as we did. Around 1.5 lakh nominations were submitted by the BJP, Congress, CPM, and Independents together, while Trinamul submitted between 75,000 and 78,000. From Cooch Behar to Kakdwip, everyone was able to vote for themselves, according to the Trinamul MP.

He added that Trinamul won all of the zilla parishads, around 90% of the panchayat samitis, and about 70% of the panchayats in the rural areas.

The opposition leaders scorned his comments, claiming that violence persisted while rural boards were being formed in the areas and that the rural elections had been marred by carnage, voting irregularities, and fatalities.

"The falsehoods that Trinamul leaders spread are known to everybody. Abhishek Banerjee is propagating misinformation because they are anxious to win in north Bengal. People no longer take them seriously, according to Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP's top Bengali spokesman.

Samik Lahiri, the CPM leader, also criticized Abhishek.

"His aunt (Mamata Banerjee) taught him to lie. We must keep in mind that he is a nationally renowned burglar. In the elections of 2024, voters would respond appropriately to Trinamul, said Lahiri.

Abhishek's remarks, according to a top Congress official in Siliguri, go against Mamata Banerjee's own position.

On July 21, Mamata informed news outlets in Calcutta that 18 people had died as a result of violence in several places, the majority of them were Trinamul.

Unofficial estimates state that 60 people died during the rural elections. At least half of them are supporters and employees of Trinamul.

The Left claimed five deaths, the Left claimed eight, the BJP claimed eleven, the ISF claimed four.

The Congress leader said, "This implies that he (Abhishek) does not even acknowledge the deaths of his own party supporters."

Abhishek promised to work hard so that by December 31 of this year, the state government could establish a new subdivision with Dhupguri as its headquarters.

He pointed guns at the north Bengal-based BJP legislators and lambasted them of being ineffective, but he said nothing about INDIA partners CPM and Congress.

He said that a household LPG cylinder will cost just Rs 500 if INDIA won the federal election. "The Prime Minister decreased the price by Rs. 200 and referred to it as a gift for Raksha Bandhan since elections are soon. If Raksha Bandhan occurs once every five years, I want to ask him. The cost would drop to Rs 500 if INDIA wins the election, according to Abhishek.