Amid graft charges, TMC seeks image makeover with outreach drive

Besieged with a slew of corruption charges, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has launched a massive outreach drive in a bid to makeover its image ahead of the panchayat elections in West Bengal.

Even at the government-level a parallel initiative has been planned to boost its “relationship” with the people. The measures have been necessitated, as the TMC has been reeling under corruption charges ever since it came to power in the state for the third consecutive term in May 2021.

Rs 15 crore seized from ex-minister

In the latest case of alleged corruption involving a party leader, the Income Tax Department has seized around Rs 15 crore from the properties belonging to former West Bengal minister Jakir Hossain. The seizures were made during the raids conducted in 28 places, including factories and houses of the TMC leader in Murshidabad, Kolkata and New Delhi. The raids started on Wednesday and concluded on Thursday.

Not the first one to face corruption charges

The Enforcement Directorate last year seized around Rs 50 crore in cash from two apartments of an associate of Partha Chatterjee, the former secretary general of TMC who was also a Cabinet minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.

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Another influential TMC leader Anubrata Mondal was arrested by the ED in November last year in a multi-crore cattle smuggling case. Several party leaders and functionaries in districts and blocks are also accused of misappropriating funds meant for welfare schemes.

Senior TMC leaders like MP Sougata Roy publicly admitted that the party’s image was badly hit due to the corruption charges.

Protests over PMAY anomalies

To make the matter worse, protests erupted in many places after the state government struck off names of thousands of beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in nine districts after discrepancies had been found in the list prepared around five years ago.

The Centre last week sent two teams to scrutinize complaints of irregularities. More teams would be dispatched to the state, if further complaints of irregularities in the implementation of the PMAY were received, warned Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Kapil Moreshwar Patil on Tuesday.

No Central funds for job scheme

The Union government has also stopped sanctioning any fund to Bengal for the 100-day job scheme since December last. “All these factors have sent out a negative message to the people. It needs to be rectified,” said a TMC leader underlining the need for the outreach drive. Reaching out to the people directly always helps and hence the drive, he added.

Taking lessons from past

For the latest campaign, the party took a cue from the successful outreach drive the West Bengal government launched ahead of the last assembly elections when it had faced similar charges of corruption.

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The TMC government had then started the “Duare Sarkar” scheme, which literally means the government at the doorstep.  Under the scheme, camps are set up periodically in every village and civic ward and officials address complaints related to delivery of government services.

‘Duare Sarkar’, a game-changer

The state government’s flagship scheme, which was perceived as a game-changer in the 2021 assembly elections, also bagged a prestigious award from the Centre on January 8.

It won Platinum Award in the ‘Public Platform’ category of the 2022 ‘Digital India’ Awards being considered as the best among 800 projects in the country.

The TMC has now fielded its leaders and workers to reach out to the state’s around 10 crore people in 2.5 crore homes to get feedback about the delivery of state government’s welfare schemes.

Now, Mamata unveils ‘Didir Suraksha Kawach’

The campaign named ‘Didir Suraksha Kawach’ (Didi’s protective shield) has two components. In the first phase launched on Wednesday (January11), the party MPs, MLAs and other senior leaders have started spending at least a day each in all the gram panchayats and areas under urban local bodies.

During their stay they are supposed to take part in community launches, visit important religious and cultural places in the area, interact with locals and conduct public meetings. “During the interaction they will collect feedback about the implementation of the welfare schemes and also try to clear misconceptions about the party,” said another senior TMC leader.

‘Didir Doot’ to collect feedback

In the second phase, around 3.5 crore volunteers called “Didir Doot” (emissaries of Didi) will collect the feedback about the schemes and upload them in an android app so that the complaints reach the party chief. The campaign will continue till February 28.

Apart from this, the TMC government is also contemplating to set up a Citizenship Relationship Management Unit at the state secretariat to enhance the government’s interaction with the public.

The unit will work as an interface between the state government and the citizens, said an official. The panchayat elections in West Bengal are due in April-May this year.