In 11 states, Amit Shah got his numbers wrong. In 13 states, the BJP underperformed since 2019 : Amit Mitra

Bengal Finance Minister, Dr. Amit Mitra

Amit Mitra, Bengal Finance Minister while talking about Amit Shah’s claims hit hard where it hurts and said, “This 200 seats was said by Mr Amit Shah. Now what is his track record -- In 11 states, he got his number wrong. In 13 states, the BJP underperformed since 2019.

He continued, “Take for example Delhi, he said they were going to win 45 out of 70 seats. How many did they win? Eight. Take Jharkhand for example, Mr Shah said they will win 65 seats out of 81. How many did they win? 25.”

While decoding the second strategy he called Amit Shah a ‘Confidence Fixer’ and went on to say, “He said BJP is going to get a two-thirds majority in Haryana. Did they get it? No. Rajasthan they didn’t get anything like that; they lost the elections. Madhya Pradesh same story – they lost it. Later, of course, defections happened. Chattisgarh they claimed another outright win and what was the result – they won only 15 of the 90 seats. Bihar they said two-thirds majority but didn’t get it. The conclusion is whatever Mr Shah says, purely on empirical basis, you take a certain percentage of that and I am giving you that figure. It is between 35 and 40% according to his 11 predictions in the past.”

If we superimpose these percentages to what he has claimed – BJP will win around 70 to 80 seats in West Bengal.

On the other question, that Mr Modi is high on popularity in Bengal, Amit Mitra says, “the common people know that in a state election, Mr Modi and Mr Shah, and the 4-5 Cabinet ministers, six MPs stationed here -- are they going to rule Bengal? The answer is no. Look at Odisha, where Parliament and local elections were held together. The people completely differentiated. They knew that these guys are birds of passage.”

Hinting that the PM’s image was eroding – he explained the many problem areas like the unplanned lockdown, the bad state of economy, the industrial production nose diving, etc and said, “I don’t want to debate their popularity; the issue is that common people know that they are not going to sit in Bengal daily as Mamata Banerjee does.”

Amit Mitra had an interesting way of explaining when asked that Hindu voters in Bengal look at BJP as a ‘ladoo’ they haven’t tasted. He said, “BJP is a new product. Do they not know what happened to India which is ruled by these people? Don’t they know it’s the highest unemployment rate ever? Don’t they know that the GDP growth rate fell by 23% in the first part of Covid because of an unplanned lockdown?”

On why is the TMC not putting more focus on the debacles and follies that BJP has committed in its speeches? Isn’t it like playing into BJP’s narrative? and why is the CM resorting to Chandi Path. He said, “When you recite Chandi Path, then it makes headlines. Eighty per cent of her speech is on development.”

Amit Mitra also said, "The Citizen’s Commission on Elections led by Justice Lokur has said in a formal report that ‘ECI’s conduct of the Parliament elections of 2019 has led to grave doubts about its fairness’. That’s a very serious allegation by a judge of the Supreme Court on paper.”