Mamata Banerjee's Election Strategy: Polarization Over Development

In the run-up to the assembly elections, instead of talking about development, Mamata Banerjee relied on old tricks. On Wednesday, at a meeting held at the Maynaguri Town Club ground in support of the TMC candidate, the old game of NRC and veiled threats to central forces found more space than development. According to political observers, as the ground beneath the hills shifted to plain-north Bengal, polarization and panic spread again. She boarded a helicopter. At Batabari St. Lucky's Church, a short distance from the helipad, she held a meeting with people of the Christian faith. She stayed overnight at a luxury hotel near Chalasar. This afternoon, from the private hotel in Chalasar, the chief minister drove straight to the makeshift helipad near Metili ITI College in Malbazar subdivision. From there, the chief minister addressed a public meeting in Maynaguri.