What does the conversation between PM Narendra Modi and Rekha Patra signify?

A question has been doing the rounds within the Bengal BJP unit for the past few days. Will the ghost of Sandeshkhali haunt the Trinamool Congress enough? Will the women’s uprising that was triggered by systematic oppression at the hands of local TMC leaders cause a successful depletion in the support for Mamata Banerjee and her party? Given the desperate attempts the saffron camp is making to cling on to the issue and not letting it subside, the question seems fair enough.

The BJP’s second list of candidates for Bengal was released on March 24. One of the biggest surprises in this list was the nominating one Rekha Patra for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. The official media group described her as “a fighter, who gave face to the movement against TMC's atrocities in Sandeshkhali”. Patra was one of the faces of the women’s protests in Sandeshkhali.

Two days later, an edited audio clip of a little over nine minutes was posted on the same group. The clip was described as a conversation between Patra and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The conversation is testimony to the fact that the Bengal unit’s strategy to turn Sandeshkhali as one of their key poll planks has the approval of the highest level.

Other than Patra, Modi also spoke to Amrita Roy, the member of Krishnanagar royal family whom the BJP has fielded against Mahua Moitra in the Krishnanagar constituency. In the aforementioned nine-minute long audio clip posted in the party's official media group, Modi said that he is working to ensure that the money attached by the Enforcement Directorate in West Bengal goes to the “poor people who were looted”.

Patra’s name came as a surprise to many and a shock to some. Initially, it was rumoured that the top leaders of the party are in touch with cricketer Mohammed Shami, who represents Bengal in the Ranji Trophy, and wanted him to contest from Basirhat. Later, names of other state BJP leaders such as former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh also remained afloat. Though most people were unhappy with the prospect of Ghosh’s nomination, they were betting on Shami.

However, these people are unclear on how to react to Patra’s nomination.

“Shami would have been the best bet in Basirhat, since this is minority dominated seat,” a BJP leader said. “Rekha Patra’s nomination can be a good publicity stunt, but will people vote for her?”

A key leader of the state unit, actor-turned-politician Rudranil Ghosh, has publicly criticised Patra’s nomination. It is known that Ghosh was aspiring to get a ticket from Basirhat himself. However, Modi’s call in support of the woman—whom the prime minister described as Shakti Swaroopa or manifestation of power—is likely to quash all rumblings.

Yet the primary reason behind Patra’s nomination remains the repercussions it might create across Bengal. With almost 50 per cent of voters in Basirhat being Muslims, Patra is unlikely to win. But as Modi has previously said--the “storm from Sandeshkhali will rage across Bengal”—something he repeated in his conversation with Patra, the larger target is to woo women voters across Bengal. Currently, there are 37.3 million women voters in the state.

Speaking to journalists at the state BJP office in Salt Lake on March 26, Patra said that she was overwhelmed that the PM had called someone like her, who comes from a humble background. She claimed that both her parents’ and in-laws’ family have been BJP supporters. Her husband, a migrant worker in Chennai, was allegedly beaten up by men of local TMC henchman Sheikh Shahjahan.

Shahjahan and two of his aides were later arrested, courtesy the continuous protests by the women of Sandeshkhali.

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