'Keep ego aside, fight unitedly': Abhishek Banerjee tells TMC workers ahead of polls

Trinamool Congress (TMC) second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday held a crucial virtual conference with all contesting party candidates, urging workers to set aside differences and fight unitedly in the final stretch before the polls. The meeting was attended by over 30,000 party functionaries, including candidates, MPs, frontal organisation heads, spokespersons, booth-level agents, Zila Parishad members, and municipal councillors.

With barely a week of campaigning left, Banerjee highlighted what he described as six months of sustained groundwork by the party. “This is a very crucial phase. Keep your ego aside. This is the time to put differences behind and fight unitedly for the next 15 days,” the TMC MP told party workers.

Expressing confidence in the party’s prospects, he claimed that electoral roll revisions would not impact the outcome. “Even if they delete 60 lakh names, they won’t be able to defeat us. All surveys show that despite large-scale deletions, TMC is returning to power. Despite everything, BJP has realised it is not winning Bengal. The same happened in 2021,” he said, adding that the party’s vote share would surpass its previous tally.

At the same time, Banerjee cautioned workers against complacency, saying the party leadership was closely monitoring performance at the constituency level. “We will reward those who perform well. Those who work only for show, the party is watching,” he said.

Referring to the arrest of IPAC co-founder Vinesh Chandel by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Banerjee alleged that central agencies were being misused to target the TMC, asserting that such actions would only strengthen the party.

Drawing a comparison between the deletion of names from electoral rolls in West Bengal and the NRC exercise in Assam, he claimed that a significant number of those affected were Bengali Hindus.

Banerjee also directed party leaders to intensify outreach in the Malda-Murshidabad belt, arguing that votes for the Congress would indirectly benefit the BJP. “Did Congress, AIMIM, or ISF protest during NRC or when people here were struggling? If you make a Congress leader win, they will take money and join BJP,” he alleged.

Sharpening his attack on the BJP, Banerjee said the party was relying on perception rather than ground activity. “BJP is spending crores to create a wave that it is coming to power. But there is barely any activity on the ground. They are depending on a narrative built through media and agencies,” he said.