How BJP's Chanakya met his waterloo in Bengal

The BJP could win only 16 out of the 57 seats in Bengal where Amit Shah campaigned, reports Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

IMAGE: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Anilchandra Shah on a roadshow in West Bengal. Photograph: Kind courtesy Amit Shah/Twitter

The man they call Chanakya, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah, has never had such a bad outing in any election that he has spearheaded as in West Bengal.

Modi's Bengal strike rate: Less than 50%

Shah met his waterloo at the hands of Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress leader who was sworn in as Bengal's chief minister for the third consecutive term last fortnight.

Data compiled by Hemant Shivsharan/Rediff.com

Shah, who virtually camped in Bengal, addressed around 57 rallies for various BJP candidates but when the EVMs were opened on May 2, the outcome was far from expectations.

The BJP could win only 16 out of the 57 seats where Shah campaigned in his typical style.

His success rate: 28 per cent. 28.07 per cent, to be precise.

In other words, he failed to deliver for the BJP in 71.93 per cent seats of West Bengal.

Date	Constituency	Rallies addressed	Result	BJP candidate	Trinamool candidate	Won By	Lost By
January 31	Howrah Uttar	Public Meeting via Video Conferencing @ 12 noon	Lost	Umesh Rai	Gautam Chowdhuri		5,522 votes
	Howrah Madhya		Lost	Sanjay Singh	Arup Roy, S/o Late Prabhat Roy		46,547 votes
	Howrah Dakshin		Lost	Rantidev Sengupta	Nandita Chowdhury		50,569 votes
February 11	Thakurnagar, Gaighata	Public Rally, Thakurbari Ground @ 3.45 pm	Won	Subrata Thakur	Narottam Biswas	9,578 votes
February 18	Namkhana, Kakdwip	Roadshow, Shamshan Kali Mandir @ 2.45 pm	Lost	Dipankar Jana	Manturam Pakhira		25,302 votes
March 14	Kharagpur	Roadshow from Prem Hari Bhawan, Malancha to Malancha Petrol Pump @ 5.15 pm	Lost	Tapan Bhuya	Dinen Roy		36,230 votes
	Kharagpur Sadar		Won	Hiranmoy Chattopadhyaya	Pradip Sarkar	3,771 votes
March 15	Jhargram	Public Meeting, Jhargram Circus Ground @ 11.00 am	Lost	Sukhamay Satpathy (Jahar)	Birbaha Hansda		38,240 votes
March 15	Ranibandh	Public Meeting, Khatra A-Team Ground @ 1.00 pm	Lost	Kshudiram Tudu	Jyotsna Mandi		3,939 votes
March 21	Egra, Purba Medinipur	Public Meeting, Bali Ghai School Ground @ 12.30 pm	Lost	Arup Dash	Tarun Kumar Maity		18,491 votes
March 21	Kolkata	Launch of BJP's Sankalp Patra, East Zonal Cultural Center @ 5.30 pm	Lost	Awadh Kishore Gupta	Firhad Hakim		68,554 votes
March 23	Gosaba	Public Meeting @ 12 noon	Lost	Barun Pramanik (Chitta)	Jayanta Naskar		23,709 votes
March 23	Medinipur	Roadshow from Kiranitala to Goalkuan Chowk @ 3.00 pm	Lost	Samit Kumar Dash	June Maliah		24,397 votes
March 25	Baghmundi, Purulia	Public Meeting, Kusaldhi Cricket Stadium @ 11.30 am	Won	Sushanta Mahato	Ashutosh Mahato (AJSU Party)	7,018 votes
March 25	Gopiballavpur, Jhargram	Public Meeting, Rogara Maidan @ 1.10 pm	Lost	Sanjit Mahata	Dr Khagendra Nath Mahata		23,768 votes
March 25	Tamluk, Purba Medinipur	Public Meeting, Village Shantipur @ 3.00 pm	Lost	Hare Krishna Bera	Saumen Kumar Mahapatra		793 votes
March 25	Bishnupur, Bankura	Public Meeting, Turki Math Play Ground @ 4.45 pm	Lost	Agniswar Naskar	Dilip Mondal		58,832 votes
March 25	Bishnupur, Bankura	Door to door distribution of Sonar Bangla Sankalp Patra@ 12.00 pm	Won	Tanmay Ghosh (Bumba)	Archita Bid	11,420 votes
March 30	Nandigram	Roadshow @ 12 noon	Won	Adhikari Suvendu	Mamata Banerjee	1,956 votes
March 30	Debra	Public Meeting @ 1.35 pm	Lost	Bharati Ghosh	Humayun Kabir		11,226 votes
March 30	Panskura Paschim	Public Meeting @ 3.05 pm	Lost	Sintu Senapati	Phiroja Bibi		8,889 votes
March 30	Diamond Harbour	Public Meeting @ 4.40 pm	Lost	Dipak Kumar Halder	Pannalal Halder		16,996 votes
April 2	Sitalkuchi	Public Meeting @ 11.00 am	Won	Baren Chandra Barman	Partha Pratim Ray	17,815 votes
April 2	Kalchini	Public Meeting @ 12.30 pm	Won	Bishal Lama	Passang Lama	28,576 votes
April 2	Baruipur Paschim	Roadshow @ 3.00 pm	Lost	Debopam Chattopadhyaya (Babu)	Biman Banerjee		61,910 votes
April 2	Arambag	Public Meeting @ 4.30 pm	Won	Madhusudan Bag	Sujata Mondal	7,172 votes
April 7	Singur	Roadshow @ 12 noon	Lost	Rabindranath Bhattacharya	Becharam Manna		25,923 votes
April 7	Domjur	Roadshow @ 1.30 pm	Lost	Rajib Banerjee S/O- Late Dhananjoy Banerjee	Kalyan Ghosh		42,620 votes
April 7	Howrah Madhya	Roadshow @ 3.00 pm
April 7	Behala Purba	Roadshow @ 4.30 pm	Lost	Payel Sarkar	Ratna Chatterjee		37,428 votes
April 9	Kolkata	Press Conference, Hotel Hindustan International @ 12 noon
April 9	Bhabanipur	Door to Door Campaign @ 2.00 pm	Lost	Rudranil Ghosh	Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay		28,719 votes
April 9	Jagatdal	Roadshow @ 4.00 pm	Lost	Arindam Bhattacharya	Somenath Shyam Ichini		18,364 votes
April 9	Madhyamgram	Roadshow @ 6.00 pm	Lost	Rajasree Rajbanshi	Rathin Ghosh		48,126 votes
April 11	Santipur	Roadshow @ 12.20 pm	Won	Jagannath Sarkar	Ajoy Dey	15,878 votes
April 11	Ranaghat Dakshin	Roadshow @ 1.30 pm	Won	Mukut Mani Adhikari	Barnali Dey Roy	16,515 votes
April 11	Basirhat Dakshin	Public Meeting @ 3.40 pm	Lost	Tarak Nath Ghosh	Dr Saptarshi Banerjee		24,468 votes
April 11	Panihati	Roadshow @ 4.25 pm	Lost	Sanmoy Bandyopadhyay	Nirmal Ghosh		25,177 votes
April 11	Kamarhati	Town Hall Meeting @ 5.30 pm	Lost	Anindya Banerjee	Madan Mitra		35,408 votes
April 11	Rajarhat Gopalpur	Town Hall Meeting @ 7.00 pm	Lost	Samik Bhattacharya	Aditi Munshi		25,296 votes
April 12	Kalimpong	Roadshow @ 11.30 am	Lost	Suva Pradhan	Ruden Sada Lepcha (Independent)		3,870 votes
April 12	Dhupguri	Public Meeting @ 1.40 pm	Won	Bishnu Pada Ray	Mitali Roy	4,355 votes
April 12	Hemtabad	Roadshow @ 3.30 pm	Lost	Chandima Roy	Satyajit Barman		27,215 votes
April 12	Siliguri	Public Meeting @ 5.00 pm	Won	Sankar Ghosh	Dr Omprakash Mishra	35,586 votes
April 13	Darjeeling	Public Meeting @ 11.30 am	Won	Neeraj Tamang Zimba	Keshav Raj Sharma (Independent)	21,276 votes
April 13	Nagrakata	Public Meeting @ 12.45 pm	Won	Puna Bhengra	Joseph Munda	23,475 votes
April 13	Islampur	Roadshow @ 2.20 pm	Lost	Saumyaroop Mandal	Abdul Karim Chowdhary		37,440 votes
April 13	Bidhannagar	Public Meeting @ 5.00 pm	Lost	Sabya Sachi Dutta	Sujit Bose S/O - Late Ajit Bose		7,997 votes
April 17	Amdanga	Roadshow @ 12.15 pm	Lost	Joydev Manna	Rafiqur Rahaman		25,480 votes
April 17	Chapra	Public Meeting @ 2.00 pm	Lost	Kalyan Kumar Nandi	Rukbanur Rahman		15,698 votes
April 17	Ausgram	Public Meeting @ 3.45 pm	Lost	Kalita Maji	Abhedananda Thander		11,815 votes
April 18	Purbasthali Uttar	Public Meeting @ 11.00 am	Lost	Gobardhan Das	Tapan Chatterjee		6,706 votes
April 18	Nakashipara	Roadshow @ 12 noon	Lost	Santanu Dey	Kallol Khan		21,271 votes
April 18	Swarupnagar	Public Meeting @ 1.45 pm	Lost	Brindaban Sarkar	Bina Mondal		34,800 votes
April 18	Habra	Roadshow @ 4.15 pm	Lost	Biswajit Sinha	Jyoti Priya Mallick		3,841 votes
April 19	Pandaveswar	Public Meeting @ 11.00 am	Lost	Kumar Jitendra Tewari	Narendranath Chakraborty		3,803 votes
April 19	Chakulia	Public Meeting @ 1.30 pm	Lost
April 19	Kaliaganj	Public Meeting @ 2.45 pm	Won	Soumen Roy	Tapan Deb Singha	21,820 votes
April 19	Balurghat	Roadshow @ 4.00 pm	Won	Ashok Kumar Lahiri	Sekhar Dasgupta	13,436 votes

Shah's worst show was in Kolkata where Firhad Hakim, the TMC minister and a lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee, defeated Awadh Kishor Gupta of the BJP by 68,554 votes.

Firhad's victory is significant because he stated before the elections that the BJP was trying to vitiate the communal atmosphere in his constituency by calling him Dhakaiya (a local pejorative used to describe people of Bangladeshi origin).

'I will die an Indian and my grave will be on Indian soil. However, for the sake of polarisation they (the BJP) label a person as a Muslim or a Pakistani. This is against (the spirit of) the Constitution, against the pride and ethics of India,' Hakim had stated in an interview with the Economic Times.

Another crushing defeat was at Baruipur Paschim where Shah had done a massive road show.

Here the BJP candidate, Debopam Chattopadhyaya, lost by 61,910 votes to the TMC's Biman Banerjee.

In 27 of the seats where Shah held rallies or roadshows, the BJP lost by more than 20,000 votes.

In 50 per cent of the assembly seats where Shah went on roadshows or held election rallies, BJP candidates lost badly and that too at a time when he proclaimed that the BJP would cross 200 seats in Bengal.

Prashant Kishor, Mamata Banerjee's election strategist, told The Telegraph, 'Amit Shah is the most over-rated politician and poll manager. A disaster. What does he have to show for his great and fabled election management?'

'He has the most charismatic leader in Narendra Modi to put on stage; he has humongous resources at his command; he has an elaborate party network supported by the Sangh; he has the backing of the government and its agencies; he has an Election Commission playing footsie; and still he lost! That must tell you something about Amit Shah and his reputation,' Kishor said.

'This is my third head-to-head with him and all three times I have defeated him -- in Bihar in 2015, in Delhi and in Bengal. And, of course, we defeated him in Andhra and Punjab, where the BJP was fighting in alliance with local parties,' Kishor added.

'He is a good-for-nothing political manager. I have to say I haven't the greatest respect for Amit Shah as a politician.'

Table designed by Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com

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