Low Tide on the Hooghly
The BJP’s recent expansionist manoeuvres in Bengal have been a damp squib
Amit Shah is not happy. At a meeting with Bengal BJP leaders in Delhi (June 27), the angry national president of the BJP wanted to know why the saffron party was not being able to match up to the aggression of the ruling Trinamool Congress. A senior BJP leader says Shah “was not at all satisfied with the way movements were being organised”. What he wants from the state leaders is an effective mix of aggression and approachability. He also wants them out in the streets more, not just for protests but also for religious events.
‘Lalbazar Abhijan’, a saffron siege of the police headquarters in Kolkata on May 25, began with a roar but ended in a whimper. A police vehicle was torched at Bowbazar but the state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, MP Roopa Ganguly and national leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya retired hurt, quoting health issues, courting arrest and refusing bail. They spent the night in prison. The abhijan was over almost as soon as it began. A senior party leader was candid, “It was a flop show with hardly any impact. In fact, after all the hype, it turned out to be a major embarrassment as it exposed our lack of organisational skills.”
In contrast, the march to Nabanna, organised by the Left parties on May 22, generated much excitement and violent police action, virtually shutting down the city for four hours just three
THE BENGAL BJP’S ‘VISTARAK’ DRIVE, LAUNCHED IN LATE APRIL, ALSO GOT A TEPID RESPONSE
days before.
Earlier, the ‘vistarak’ drive initiated on April 25 by the BJP also got a lukewarm response. In fact, the highlight of that was state leader George Baker getting beaten up by TMC men at Kalna in Bardhaman.
Attempting to defend his leadership, Dilip Ghosh has pointed to the “huge success of our Ramnavami celebrations”. “It was evident the people are with us. In fact, the ruling party, obviously rattled, went and then organised a copycat Hanuman Jayanti,” he says.
But notwithstanding the protestations, the party was conspicuously absent from the three major rath yatras organised on June 25, the ISKCON ones in Kolkata and Mayapur, and Hooghly’s famous festival at Mahesh. There was some desultory participation at the individual level by some BJP leaders, but nothing else. “I don’t think our leaders got an invite from ISKCON. Or maybe they chose to skip the programme since the TMC leaders are always in the forefront in pulling the ISKCON chariot and the Mahesh chariot,” says a BJP leader.
The BJP, though, has grown in numbers in Bengal and expanded its base. National leaders are frequently touring the state to keep the momentum going, but the party still lacks a local leadership that can be pitted against Mamata. “The BJP initially tried to groom women leaders like Roopa and Locket Chatterjee, but it has realised that theatrics alone won’t be able to hold the attention of the Bengal audience for long,” says Biswanath Chakrabarty, political science professor at the Rabindra Bharati University.