TMC chief Mamata Banerjee counts on Sanskrit shlokas

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

Nandigram, March 31

Sanskrit incantations sum up Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s speeches at most public meetings these days. By asserting her Hindu identity, the Trinamool Congress supremo hopes to win over Hindu voters.

In Nandigram, Mamata desperately needs this strategy to succeed if she has to register a victory over Suvendu Adhikari, her former deputy and now a BJP candidate from the seat.

Visit to Nandigram makes it clear that BJP’s propaganda against Mamata accusing her of “appeasement of Muslims” is at work in the constituency where Hindus constitute over 70 per cent of the electorate.

Sheikh Supian, Mamata Banerjee’s confidant and her chief election agent in the constituency for Thursday’s poll, is aware of the grudge against Didi nurtured by a section of Hindus in Nandigram for her alleged policy of cultivating Muslim voters.

“But 50 per cent of the Hindus will vote for Mamata. She will also get 90 per cent of Muslim votes, making her victory from Nandigram certain,” Supian says.