BJP to highlight photograph of injured party MP Khagen Murmu in Bengal, Bihar ahead of polls

Kolkata, Oct 8 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to highlight the attack on party MP Khagen Murmu, who comes from a Scheduled Tribe background, across the country to brand Trinamool Congress as 'anti-tribal', said a party insider on Wednesday.

As part of its campaign, the BJP has made plans to display photographs of the injured face of the tribal MP, following the attack, in large numbers in various tribal areas, not only in West Bengal but also in other states. The aim is to identify the entire 'India' alliance, including the Congress, as 'anti-tribal'.

The BJP had started promoting the photograph of an injured Khagen Murmu since Monday. The narrative regarding the 'attack on the tribal MP' was emphasised.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, also, intensified that tone. Since Wednesday morning, the BJP's All India IT and Social Media Department started extensive campaign about the attack on Murmu.

A 'digital poster' with the photograph of the injured MP has been created. The poster has been written in English to show it across the country. It has been done in Bengali for West Bengal and Tripura. In some posters, there is only Khagen's picture. In some, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's face is next to the face of the injured Murmu. It is written there, 'Shh! Even the tribals are under the wrath of the bloodthirsty Trinamool!'

BJP's All India Head of IT and Social Media Department Amit Malviya posted the poster on his X handle and wrote: "Those who do not miss any opportunity to impart knowledge about caste are silent like opportunists after the attack on the BJP's tribal MP by a murderous mob in West Bengal."

He also wrote: "Does the life of the tribals have no value to Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi and the Left ecosystem? Or are the tribals unimportant in their politics of selective outrage?"

It is clear from this that the BJP wants to highlight the attack on Murmu in alliance this time in a counter-move.

The primary target for BJP’s campaign is West Bengal as it goes to Assembly polls next year. The BJP, which received support in the tribal-dominated areas of the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, had lost some grounds in the subsequent elections.

To regain the lost ground, in the 2026 Assembly elections, the BJP state leadership is planning to put up the photograph of the injured Murmu in the form of banners in all the tribal-dominated areas of Bengal.

According to a senior BJP leader, the party has two objectives behind the big publicity of the incident outside West Bengal. First, the party damage wants to damage Mamata Banerjee's image in national politics. Second, to make parties like Congress and JMM uncomfortable. The BJP leadership wants to raise the question, why are the parties that target the BJP round the year silent after a tribal MP was attacked.

It may be noted that the elections have been announced in Bihar.

The seat where the injured Khagen Murmu is an MP is Maldaha Uttar, which happens to be adjacent to Bihar and Jharkhand. As a result, the BJP believes that this campaign can have an impact on the tribal areas of Bihar.

Earlier in the day, the BJP said the attack on Murmu, who comes from a tribal background, exemplifies how the tribal population is "simply dispensable" in politics of selective outrage pursued not only by the Trinamool Congress but also by Congress and Left parties.

BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a social media statement, where he questioned the silence of all the opposition parties in the country over the attack on Murmu, the two-time Lok Sabha member from Maldaha (Uttar) constituency in Malda district of West Bengal.

"Those who never miss a chance to sermonise about caste seem conveniently silent when a Tribal BJP MP is assaulted by a marauding Muslim mob in Bengal. Is it that Tribal lives and dignity don’t matter to Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi, and the Left ecosystem? Or are Tribals simply dispensable in their politics of selective outrage?” Malviya questioned in his social media statement.

Political observers feel that Malviya had deliberately tagged Congress and Left parties along with Trinamool Congress in this exercise of highlighting the issue of the attack on Murmu to unite the voters from the Scheduled Tribe community in favour of the BJP amid the crucial West Bengal Assembly polls next year.

--IANS

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