Trinamul Congress’ national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who has been touring the districts over a period of two months for his Jono Sanjog Yatra, is drawing huge crowds for his road shows.

While on one hand the outreach programme has generated a lot of interest in the grassroots, it has also led to a lot of debates on whether his process of choosing candidates for panchayat elections is the right way. Political pundits see the yatra serving many purposes for the party as well for the individual.

Analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay says Abhishek’s mass appeal is evident. “The fact he is interacting with grassroots people, eating with them, is making an impression. His acceptability is increasing now,” he said. On the dissent at a few places within the party, he added, “For the local leaders, the ‘syllabus’ is changing, causing discomfiture to them.

But since Abhishek is doing this exercise taking into confidence the district leadership, it will not affect the party’s vote share. While the dissent may show up, you also need to cleanse the system at times.” Of infighting during the yatra, Bhaskar Sinha Roy, says this is one of the conditions in a democracy.

“The dissent is against the local leadership. How the party has been run in the previous years, one has to find out from the boothlevel workers. Some of the leaders have come to realize that their closeness with the local MLA is not going to work anymore, making them suffer from identity crisis. This cleansing process is something which, in the days to come, other parties are going to follow,” said Mr Sinha Roy.

Political scientist Dr Zaad Mahmood feels the mass connect event is an exercise to renew the party’s image after all the corruption charges. “We can also ask if this is the chance Mr Banerjee was looking to establish himself. From the organisational point of view, what Abhishek is trying to do is to instil some kind of democratic structure as it is a personality-based party. But the friction at the local level is also a point of bother. We have to see what happens,” said Mr Mahmood.

The professor feels that the party which has its origin in a charismatic leader, is not structured for democratic practices. “The critics can also argue that with the courts permitting Abhishek to be interrogated, he might be called by the ED or CBI.

In that context, a leader taking part in a movement and being called for quizzing makes for a much compelling narrative of political vendetta.” Former BBC journalist and political commentator Subir Bhowmik feels that the yatra is all window dressing.

“Didi’s earlier sops to the clubs will have a greater impact than Abhishek’s rally. It is also natural that he is trying to project himself as a mass leader. But it will not make much of an impact,” he said.