TMC launches campaign song for Bengal assembly polls, targets BJP

The Trinamool Congress on Saturday launched its campaign song for the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections, asserting that the party would return to power for a fourth consecutive term.

The song's launch comes two days after a stand-off between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over raids at the TMC's IT cell chief Pratik Jain's residence and office here.

"Bengal will win again despite all attacks against it," the main refrain of the campaign song says, asserting, "We march on a new path with a new direction, your darkness will lose against the new dawn."



The lyrics also make references to political issues.

"We will not be afraid of the SIR or NRC, there is still time for you to recognise Mother Bengal's strength," goes the song's lyrics, which is accompanied by a video showcasing Mamata Banerjee and the party second-in-command Abhisekh Banerjee.

The TMC has been vehemently criticising the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise has been undertaken by the Election Commission at the behest of the BJP and is being done in great hurry to delete names of a large number of people before the assembly polls to give advantage to the saffron brigade.

"This land has space for everyone; love does not bow to intimidation," the song says, while cautioning its political rivals to "guard their own" before challenging the state's ruling party.

The video features images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in red hues, with lyrics saying, "Tyrannical you, guard your own citadel."

Referring to allegations of attacks on Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states, the song says, "You have created divisions on religious lines and insulted the Bengali language; Bengal knows how to reply to these."

The lyrics further assert that development in the state will continue "even in the face of storms" and claim that Bengal's social unity cannot be broken by any force.

The song also alleges that icons such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore were insulted by the opposition, without naming the BJP.

The ED on Thursday conducted searches at the office of the political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata, an action that ignited high drama, with Mamata Banerjee unexpectedly storming into the sites during raids, alleging that the central agency was trying to seize the TMC's sensitive data ahead of the high-stakes state polls.

I-PAC, apart from offering political consultancy to the TMC, also manages the party's IT and media operations, making the search especially sensitive in the run-up to elections

On Friday, Banerjee led a massive protest march against the ED's raid on I-PAC and accused the BJP of using central agencies to steal the TMC's electoral strategy.