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    West Bengal polls: BJP wins Congress stronghold Malda

    Synopsis

    The area has a Muslim population of around 52 per cent and it is known as the corridor of Bangladeshi infiltrators.

    ET Bureau
    KOLKATA: BJP's biggest success in Bengal comes in the Congress stronghold of Malda where it won Baishnabnagar, dominated by Muslims. Of three seats, that BJP won in Bengal, Baishnabnagar is one that perhaps fits for a ‘case study’ by the saffron brigade. The party says Baishnabnagar was an experiment that they have been doing in Assam. And it appeared to be a ‘success story’ for the BJP.

    Baishnabnagar constituency was won by BJP candidate Swadhin Kumar Sarkar with a vote share of 38.20 per cent. The vote share of BJP had gone up by 24.12 per cent in the area. The constituency includes Kaliachak block that earned notoriety for FICN (fake Indian currency notes), cattle and arms smuggling.

    The area has a Muslim population of around 52 per cent and it is known as the corridor of Bangladeshi infiltrators. Banking primarily on the Kaliachak violence, the BJP started its organisational work here. The party had around 12 per cent to 14 per cent votes in the area.

    "Baishnabnagar is the classic example of getting Indian Muslims at the BJP side. Indian Muslims never support anti-national activities. Those are being promoted by Congress, TMC and CPM in the region. The BJP is the only party, which fought against these nefarious activities at the border and we got the support from Muslim brothers. This is exactly what happened in Assam too. Our minority brothers too want development and they consolidate against anti-national activities," said Siddharth Nath Singh, BJP national secretary.

    According to sources, the party empowered six Muslim leaders to convince the Muslim voters in the six panchayat areas that have the maximum Muslim population.

    "We have more than six to seven Muslim karyakartas working day in day out in the Muslim-dominated Ppanchayat areas. Those are the border villagers from where Bangladeshi infiltrators sneak into India and pose a threat to the livelihood of local Muslims. Earlier, BSF used to record more than 1,500 cattle being smuggled to Bangladesh every day. Now cattle smuggling has been reduced to 100 per week. So, Indians irrespective of their religion supported us in our fight against the Bangladeshi infiltrators," said Biswapriya Roy Choudhury, BJP’s observer in north Bengal.


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