Didi Ke Bolo

Didi ke Bolo
Location	West Bengal
Key people	Mamata Banerjee Prashant Kishore
Website	Official website

Didi Ke Bolo (transl. Tell Didi)[1] is an initiative started by the All India Trinamool Congress, that provides a platform for the people of West Bengal to directly lodge concerns or complaints to the Trinamool chairperson and state chief minister Mamata Banerjee. As of 13 August 2019^[update], nearly 500,000 grievances were lodged using this platform.[2]

Background

All India Trinamool Congress appointed Prashant Kishor as their political strategist after 2019 Indian general election. Kishor conducted a series of meetings with the senior leaders of All India Trinamool Congress, and came up with the idea of "Didi Ke Bolo".[3][4][5]

Implementation

A 250-members team runs an office for "Didi Ke Bolo" at Rajarhat, Kolkata. When someone calls to lodge a grievance, an executive receives the call, and notes down the contact information of the caller, and the nature of the complaint. Complaints are received from the project's official website also. Usually, a complainant gets a call back within 48 hours. The entire process is supervised by the chief minister's grievance cell.[2]

Reception

According to The New Indian Express, this campaign received good response from the people of West Bengal.[6] As of 13 August 2019^[update] nearly 500,000 grievances were lodged using this platform.[2] More than one lakh people have called the helpline number in the last 24 hours to convey their messages to the chief minister.[7] In August 2019, a person in Durgapur, West Bengal was beaten up by after he lodged corruption complaint against a local political leader.[8] On 8 August 2019, 20 Bengali families from Karnataka were rescued by complaining in "Didi Ke Bolo". Their houses were surrounded by flood water.[9][10][11]

Dilip Ghosh, BJP chief of West Bengal, claimed that the campaign is copied from BJP's Chai Pe Charcha.[12] Indian National Congress leader Somen Mitra launched "Didike Bolchi" and asked several questions. Mitra remarked "We want to keep the questions and answers on record, which necessitated our own website".[13]

References

1. "Calls spur speedy action in Bengal". The Telegraph (India). Retrieved 14 August 2019.
2. "TMC's Didi Ke Bolo initiative in a nutshell". The Telegraph (India). Retrieved 14 August 2019.
3. "Will Prashant formula work?". DNA India. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
4. "Didi Ke Bolo All you need to know about Mamata's new campaign in West Bengal". Jagranjosh.com. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
5. "Focus on Grassroots, Review Performance and Avoid Feud: Prashant Kishor's 10 Commandments for TMC". News18. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
6. "Mamata Banerjee's 'Didi ke bolo' gets massive response". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
7. "Chief Minister got huge support from the public through "Didi Ke Bolo" helpline number and website". Prabhat Khabar. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
8. "Attack after Didi Ke Bolo complaint". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
9. "'দিদিকে বলো'তে ফোন, বন্যা বিধ্বস্ত কর্নাটক থেকে উদ্ধার বাঙালি পরিবার!". Ei Samay (in Bengali). 14 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
10. "দিদির উদ্ধারে 'দিদিকে বলো'". Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). 14 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
11. "পিকে'র টিমের উদ্যোগে বানভাসি কর্ণাটকে উদ্ধার ২০টি বাঙালি পরিবার". Bartaman (in Bengali). 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
12. "TMC's 'Didi Ke Bolo' campaign copied from BJP's 'Chai Pe Charcha', claims West Bengal leader Dilip Ghosh". Firstpost. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
13. "Didikebolchi: Congress response to Didi ke bolo". The Statesman. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Official website (in Bengali)