In a strategic move to consolidate its support base and counter the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) narrative, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has launched a new political initiative named 'Apon'. This campaign, uniquely centered around the theme of motherhood, is being spearheaded by women leaders and workers of the party, aiming to position Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the nurturing mother of the state.
The 'Apon' Initiative: Motherhood as a Political Tool
The 'Apon' program was formally inaugurated on March 8, 2024, coinciding with International Women's Day, by TMC's national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee. The launch event, held in Kolkata's iconic Esplanade area, saw a significant gathering of the party's women members. The core objective of 'Apon' is to conduct direct outreach to households across West Bengal, with a special focus on engaging with women voters.
The initiative's name, translating to 'one's own' in Bengali, is a deliberate choice to foster a sense of familial connection. The campaign's central narrative portrays Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as 'Banglar Maa' (Mother of Bengal), a figure who protects and provides for her people. This imagery is strategically deployed to counter the BJP's efforts to project Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a paternal figure. TMC leaders argue that while the BJP talks about a 'Modi ki Guarantee', the people of Bengal have experienced the tangible benefits of 'Mamata's Guarantee' through various state welfare schemes.
Grassroots Mobilization and Political Messaging
The operational framework of 'Apon' involves women party workers visiting homes, organizing local meetings, and disseminating the party's achievements. They highlight state government programs like 'Lakshmir Bhandar', which provides financial assistance to women, and 'Kanyashree', a conditional cash transfer scheme aimed at retaining girls in school and preventing child marriage. The messengers are tasked with contrasting these initiatives with the alleged withholding of central funds for schemes such as MGNREGA and PM Awas Yojana by the BJP-led central government.
Senior TMC leader and MP, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, explicitly framed the battle as one between 'the son of India' (referring to PM Modi) and 'the daughter of Bengal' (Mamata Banerjee). She emphasized that the people of Bengal must choose between a leader who they believe has deprived the state of resources and a leader who has consistently stood by them. The initiative seeks to translate the perceived emotional bond between Mamata Banerjee and the electorate, particularly women, into concrete electoral support for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Countering BJP's National Narrative
The 'Apon' campaign is a direct response to the BJP's aggressive campaigning in Bengal, which often centers on national themes, Hindutva, and the leadership of PM Modi. The TMC's strategy is to hyper-localize the political discourse, anchoring it in Bengali identity, culture, and the populist welfare model of the state government. By deploying women at the forefront, the party aims to tap into its traditional strength among female voters and present a softer, more relatable political face.
Political analysts view this as a calculated effort to reclaim the narrative after the BJP's significant gains in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where it won 18 seats. The TMC hopes that by framing the contest as a choice between a distant 'Delhi's son' and a familiar 'Bengal's mother', it can galvanize its core vote bank and mitigate the BJP's appeal. The success of this motherhood-centric political weapon will be tested in the electoral battleground later this year.
The 'Apon' initiative underscores the increasingly personalized and emotive nature of political campaigning in India. It represents the TMC's attempt to build an impregnable fortress of loyalty around Mamata Banerjee's leadership, using a potent mix of gender politics, regional pride, and targeted welfare messaging to secure its political future in West Bengal.
