According to sources in Kishor’s I-PAC, all of their surveys have shown that there is major anti-incumbency against the Mamata Banerjee government.
NEW DELHI: In what is likely to cause massive demoralisation to the Trinamool Congress cadre and indicate the possible outcome of the West Bengal elections, TMC’s election strategist, Prashant Kishor, in an audio conversation with a group of select “journalists”, admitted that his own electoral surveys, which he did to gauge the mood of the people of the state, found that the majority of the people were gravitating towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The said conversation, which was then shared online by Twitter users and members of the BJP even as polling was to begin for the fourth phase for 44 seats on 10 April, took place on the live audio conversation platform “Clubhouse” on the night of 9 April.
These revelations are likely to have deep electoral repercussions for the TMC and have come at a time when voting is yet to take place on 159 seats.
The BJP campaign team, as per one of its members, has started sharing the said audio tape among its cadre to “energise” them further.
In the said conversation between Kishor, who is looking after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC’s campaigning, and a few journalists, the former is heard admitting that a large section of the people in Bengal are voting for BJP and that the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “huge” in the state, indicating that there is a massive chance of the BJP of coming to power in the state this time around.
According to the audio, Kishor, while talking to the group of journalists, said, “People in Bengal are voting in the name of Modi, they are voting based on the fact that they are Hindus. Modi is very popular here and he is popular among the Hindi-speaking population, which is about one crore in Bengal. There are 27% SCs in Bengal and they will all vote for BJP. The Matua community will also be predominantly voting for BJP and there is huge polarisation and a massive anti-incumbency against the TMC which is working in favour of the BJP.”
He went on to add that according to the surveys they (I-PAC) were doing, it came up that people were predominantly saying that they felt it was the BJP that was going to form the next government in Bengal.
Later on Saturday morning, Kishor, while indirectly admitting that the conversation did happen, tweeted that the BJP had shared only parts of the conversation.
During the free-wheeling conversation on Clubhouse, Kishor, while responding to queries posed by journalists that included “how and when does the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee find time to use the washroom given her hectic campaigning”, is heard sharing his views on why the BJP is in a strong position in this election.
“We have tried to analyze why people are saying that the next government in Bengal would be formed by the BJP. It has come to our notice that people who are voting for BJP are saying that the BJP is coming to power, but interestingly two third of the Left voters are also of the opinion that BJP is going to form the next government in Bengal. The Left feels that for now, the BJP should come to power and that Mamata Banerjee should lose this election,” Kishor is heard saying.
Kishor also admitted that the perception that BJP did not have workers on the ground in Bengal was false. He added that BJP had a mas sive cadre on the ground and who were working for the party.
“These cadres which the BJP has in Bengal could be imported from the Left, but then they are now working as dedicated soldiers of the BJP. The BJP presently has cadres in every district and areas in Bengal and in huge numbers,” Kishor said.
Kishor also admitted during the conversation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was like a cult figure for many across India including in Bengal. Kishor added that for about 25% of the population, Modi was like “God”. He said that according to the surveys they were conducting, Modi was “equally popular” as Mamata Banerjee in Bengal.
Kishor and his I-PAC have conducted over four surveys through big survey groups in Bengal in the last few months and according to sources in the I-PAC, all these surveys have shown that people want BJP to come to power. The surveys also showed that there is major anti-incumbency and anger against the Mamata Banerjee government.
This was also admitted by Prashant Kishor in the conversation that he had with the “journalists” on Clubhouse.
Kishor’s admission is in consonance with a report that The Sunday Guardian did in September last year (TMC losing ground rapidly, finds survey) on the basis of one such survey done by Kishor’s political strategist firm, Indian-Political Action Committee (I-PAC), in which it had emerged that TMC was unlikely to come back to power.
Sources in I-PAC say that all the “journalists” who attended the conversation are members of a close WhatsApp group administered by Kishor himself.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to Kishor and also to the media team of I-PAC for a reaction to the developments and seeking a response on whether I-PAC would be releasing the full conversation that happened on Clubhouse. However, no response was received either from Kishor or his media team until the time of this report going to press.
Senior TMC leader and MP from Dumdum, Saugata Roy, while responding to the developments, told The Sunday Guardian that the BJP was using its “dirty tricks department” to create a false perception. “This is the handiwork of Amit Malviya’s dirty tricks department. We have already said that the clips released are a part of the conversation and not the whole of it. Prashant Kishor in his entire conversation has 12 times said that TMC is winning, and that BJP will not cross more than 100 seats. This is BJP’s trick to malign the TMC, and holds no importance for us.”
Jumping at what the BJP leaders called a “God-sent” opportunity, BJP’s Bengal co-in-charge and IT cell head Amit Malviya said that Mamata Banerjee’s own election strategist had conceded that even in TMC’s internal surveys, BJP was winning.
“TMC’s election was just thrown away. On a day Bengal is voting for the fourth phase on as many as 44 seats, the TMC cadres and leaders woke up to find out that Mamata Banerjee’s election strategist has conceded the elections,” Amit Malviya said.
Malviya also attacked the group of select “journalists” who attended the chat. He said that all those journalists who were on Clubhouse with Kishor for the conversation were “all Lutyens’ journalists, most of whom are now jobless and YouTubing or work for discredited rags”.
In response, Kishor put out a tweet saying, “I am glad the BJP is taking my chat more seriously than their own leaders. They should show courage and share the full chat instead of getting excited with selective use of parts of it. I have said this before and I am repeating again that BJP will not cross 100 in West Bengal.”