Trinamool launches video campaign

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensifying its activities in poll-bound West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress launched a new tri-weekly video campaign to highlight the state government’s performance. Called Shoja Banglay Bolchi (straight talk in Bengali) the campaign features a series of short data-based videos complete with graphics and background score. The first video claims that unemployment rate in Bengal during the Covid-19 pandemic is low in comparison with figures in BJP-ruled states. The BJP, however, is not named in the video. The videos will appear on social media every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, Rajya Sabha member and TMC’s national spokesperson Derek O’Brien, who hosts the campaign, wrote on Twitter. In the 41-second video O’Brien says, “According to the report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, unemployment rate in Bengal in June was 6.5% whereas it was 11% nationally.” Unemployment rate was 9.6% in Uttar Pradesh, 9.2% in Karnataka, 8.2% in Madhya Pradesh and 33% in Haryana, says the MP.