Kolkata: One City, Two Roadshows And The ‘Mamata-Modi’ Face-off

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday, his first ever in the past ten years. The roadshow will happen in the northern part of the city, starting from Shyam Bazar till the house of Swami Vivekananda, roughly about 3 km. The Bengal BJP is upbeat about this road show, that comes a day after the city was badly hit by the Severe Cyclone Remal. From newspaper ads to social media videos, the build-up has been well spread ahead of the last phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on Saturday, June 1. But prior to the roadshow, there were two more events of PM Modi. According to the BJP, he will arrive on Tuesday afternoon, hold a public meeting at Ashoknagar in the Barasat constituency at 2:30 pm and then in the Jadavpur constituency at 4 pm. The roadshow likely to start by 6 pm.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been on a campaign spree, had been holding multiple roadshows as the last leg of campaigning has entered into the city. She did a road show in the North Kolkata constituency on Monday evening in support of TMC candidate Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the same constituency where Modi will do his road show on Tuesday in favour of BJP candidate Tapas Roy, a former minister from Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet. Banerjee’s roadshow will be in Dumdum in favour of TMC candidate Sougata Roy. “I walk in my roadshows, unlike others. Others prefer being in a car for their road shows. You know I love walking, these roadshows allow me to meet the people more closely”, said Mamata Banerjee after finishing her roadshow on Monday.

In the meanwhile a newspaper advertisement on Modi’s road show has stoked a controversy where the text of the ad read “Your city will be enchanted by Modi’s magic”. The BJP had called the road show historical and claimed “Modi resides in the hearts of Bengali”. Trinamool Congress has countered the use of word “your” instead of “our”, claiming their “outsider narrative was validated by BJP as they referred to Kolkata as ‘your’ city and not ‘our’ city”. The Bengal assembly election in 2021 saw the rise of ‘Bengali Asmita (pride)’ as a narrative that dominated the political discourse where TMC tagged BJP as a party of outsiders without much knowledge about Bengal. The choice of route for Modi’s roadshow on Tuesday clearly indicates their outreach to the quintessential Bengalis in the city, Shyambazar is a prominent landmark where mostly Bengalis live, from where the roadshow will begin and Swami Vivekananda is a Bengali icon, his house is where the roadshow will end.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee has lashed out over the newspaper ads where BJP has publicised the roadshow as one by the Prime Minister of the country. “I have no problem with anyone doing a roadshow. But why publicise it as the prime minister doing roadshow? There is a model code of conduct now. I don’t brand my events as events by the Chief Minister. I have no problem, you come as BJP president or as any other leader. But the use of PM designation for branding is wrong”, she added.​