The Trinamul Congress leadership has begun its outreach in the Matua-dominated Ranaghat and Bongaon organisational districts in a bid to regain its support base ahead of the panchayat elections.

During the outreach, which include overnight stays with families, Trinamul leaders are trying to get a better understanding of people’s grievances and how much the welfare measures of the state government reach and help them.

The Trinamul leadership will also try to convince people that the BJP has been trying to fool them by dangling the citizenship carrot in front of them for years.

The main target is booth areas where in the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP achieved leads. While the endeavour envisaged by Trinamul national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee (under his “New Trinamul” programme) has already begun in the Bongaon organisational district, it will commence in Nadia’s Ranaghat from January second week.

The initiative is part of some new policy decisions that Abhishek has planned to bring about certain changes ahead of the rural polls. The changes are aimed at better functioning of the party, and improvement in the approach of leaders in nurturing their areas.

However, the initiative of doorstep interaction came against the backdrop of the party’s concerns regarding the Matua community, apparently because of the party’s failure to woo them even in 2021. It swept Bengal but managed to lose all seven Assembly segments in Ranaghat and four out of seven in Bongaon.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP riding the citizenship plank won both the parliamentary seats of Ranaghat and Bongaon.

To regain the support base among the Matuas ahead of the panchayat elections, Trinamul has decided to penetrate the area by addressing mainly the citizenship issue that has recently created restlessness in the community over delays in implementing the CAA, apart from other grievances.

Trinamul’s Bongaon organisational district president and MLA Biswajit Das said: “We have formed teams to visit houses under 1,200 booth areas of Bongaon. They will talk to people and submit reports to our top leadership.”

“Our objective is to project the successes of Mamata Banerjee’s initiatives and list the lies of the BJP about the CAA,” the Trinamul MLA said.

The party will create around 1,000 teams to visit over 2,000 booth areas in the Matua-dominated belts under the Ranaghat.

Trinamul’s Ranaghat organisation district president Debasis Gangopadhyay said: “We plan to visit houses in all the (Assembly) segments from January 15. We will also spend nights at people’s homes. We want to rebuild confidence in us among people.”

In a party meeting in Ranaghat on December 17, Abhishek had said: “I will ask our party workers to go meet people from the villages and listen to their issues. If we resolve their grievances, people will support us.”

The party also decided to entrust elected representatives like MLAs and councillors to examine the performance of their neighbouring MLAs in a “non-prejudicial” manner for a clearer picture and check if they have been able to live up to people’s expectations.

Speaking about the party’s doorstep interaction, a Trinamul leader in Ranaghat said: “This is going to a new experiment with no scope for complacence.”