TMC’s Turnaround, Party Mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ To Be Revamped As Daily In West Bengal

Founded in 2015, 'Jago Bangla', All India Trinamool Congress's official weekly Bengali mouthpiece is going to be published as a Bengali daily newspaper.

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Kolkata: Following its third consecutive win in the state assembly elections, Trinamool Congress is now all set to walk the roads of the Left's Bengali daily, 'Ganashakti' by transforming Jago Bangla, TMC's weekly mouthpiece into a Bengali daily.

Taking to Twitter, TMC's National General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee announced its "fresh makeover" urging people to "stay tuned".

Speaking to ABP News, Senior TMC leader and legislator Madan Mitra said: "See, as long as Mamata Banerjee is there, and since our separation from Congress, we publish the Puja edition and it is our brainchild, Mamata's brainchild. Minimum there are 5000 boards in the state where the papers are pinned up. But it is true that 34 years of CPM rule had better infrastructure than us. But there is no such thing that our labour is less. It is a style of publicity and it's a door towards the voters."

Founded in 2015, 'Jago Bangla', All India Trinamool Congress's official weekly Bengali mouthpiece is going to be published as a Bengali daily newspaper from 21st July, known as Martyrs Day in West Bengal.

It is also being viewed as a significant political move on part of the TMC ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Abhishek Banerjee, also Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, took to Twitter and wrote,

"Jago Bangla has resonated with the people of Bengal ever since its inception. Delivering the vision of Mamata Banerjee it has steadily made its way into the hearts of people pan-state. As Jago Bangla gets a fresh make-over, stay tuned to find out more!", he tweeted.

In another tweet the TMC wrote, "Are you ready? A fresh copy of Jago Bangla will now be published DAILY! With a revamped look, all the updates now available at your fingertips. Stay tuned for 21st July!"

21st July marks a day of great significance to the TMC and its supremo Mamata Banerjee, for, on this day in 1993, 13 Congress workers present in a protest rally led by Mamata Banerjee were fired to death by West Bengal Police. It was during the regime of the Left Front government which had won a massive victory in the 1991 state elections.

The incident is believed to be a turning point in her political career, since then, every year she participates in a rally organised on 21st July in memory of the martyrs.

Decades ago, the incumbent Left Front government in West Bengal had taken a similar step and founded a fortnightly Bengali newspaper to be used as its mouthpiece which later turned into a daily. 

Speaking on the same senior CPI(M) leader, Fuad Halim said, “See it's easy that every party needs its ways of disseminating its ideologies and should be bold about it. When we did publish Ganashakti then we had clarified that this paper is Marxist so that people would understand that how the party is implementing their thought processes and not used any crooked other ways of mainstream media. They have misguided the people saying this is neutral and all, this is truth, etc. So most parties should adopt this policy that we did, Ganashakti has shown the way of our political thought, process, and soul.”

'Ganashakti' came into being in 1967. Within the next couple of years, it became a Bengali daily. Its readership skyrocketed and to date, Ganashakti is the only such mouthpiece of a political party in West Bengal to be published daily.

That is until Trinamool Congress's Jago Bangla becomes a daily newspaper from 21st July! While the BJP yet has no such mouthpiece ― a sheer case of History repeating itself!