In the recently held Bengal civic polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has performed miserably. This has resulted in fresh infighting within the party and several top leaders of the Bengal unit have expressed their displeasure with the current state leadership. Meanwhile, by-elections will be held on 12 April at Ballygunge Vidhan Sabha and Asansol Lok Sabha constituencies.
The Asansol Lok Sabha constituency was under the BJP but after sitting BJP MP Babul Supriyo joined Mamata Banerjee's TMC, he also resigned from the post. Significantly, Banerjee has fielded Supriyo from Ballygunge Vidhan Sabha which has always been one of the safest seats for the TMC; and from Asansol actor-turned-politician, Shatrughan Sinha will fight on the TMC's ticket.
Despite being a prestige battle, the BJP is yet to declare its candidates. Sources confirmed that due to the ongoing infighting for even bypoll candidature, the state leadership has asked for the central leadership's interference.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP appeared as the main contender to the Trinamool Congress by winning 18 out of 42 seats. In the last Bengal Assembly election which was held in 2021, the BJP appeared as the main opposition party. However, after the loss in the Bengal Assembly election, the organisation has been witnessing growing infighting. The BJP failed to win any of the 108 municipalities in the state. Out of the total 2,171 municipal wards, the BJP won only 63 whereas the TMC won 1,870.
One of the significant outcomes of this result is that the party has lost at the home turf of all the top BJP leaders who joined the party from the Trinamool Congress.
A senior BJP leader in the condition of anonymity said, “There are several problems for which the party has performed so poorly in this election. The people have rejected the TMC turncoats and it is a very significant message. Many prominent BJP leaders have been raising this point inside the party but the state leadership and the central leadership did not bother to listen.”
How TMC turncoats failed to hold home turfs
One of the most prominent Trinamool Congress turncoats who joined the BJP before the 2021 elections is Suvendu Adhikari. He defeated Mamata Banerjee from the Nandigram Assembly constituency and became the leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly. The Adhikari family has ruled East Midnapore’s Contai municipality for the past three decades. In this municipal election, the Trinamool Congress won all the 17 wards of the Contai municipality.
“A significant section of BJP leadership has been pointing out that Suvendu Adhikari is hijacking the party. In several districts, Adhikari has appointed people close to him. These people are not original BJP grassroots politicians but have joined the party from the TMC. They do not have any connection with the BJP supporters,” said a senior BJP leader.
Similarly, the BJP has performed miserably in North 24 Parganas which is the home turf of another TMC turncoat, BJP MP Arjun Singh. Singh is an MP from the Barrackpore constituency where the BJP has lost in these civic polls. The Trinamool won all the seven municipalities including Barrackpore, Bhatpara, Naihati, Halisahar, Garulia, Kanchrapara and Titagarh.
Why is there discontent with TMC turncoats in BJP?
After the BJP won 18 out of 42 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, several top TMC leaders joined the party in the run-up to the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections. However, the majority of these leaders lost in the Assembly election itself. Meanwhile, after the defeat of the BJP, many of these turncoats went back to the TMC.
Significantly, despite this trend, the Bengal unit of the BJP continued giving more importance to the TMC turncoats like Subhendu Adhikari and Arjun Singh, among others.
A senior BJP leader and MLA who doesn’t want to be named said, “Right now in the party traditional BJP leaders and even people close to the RSS did not have much say. The majority of the decisions are being taken by leaders like Subhendu Adhikari. This is harming the grassroots support of the BJP.”
Why did BJP lose civic polls in Bengal?
According to the political observers of Bengal, there are several reasons why the BJP has been performing poorly after the Bengal Assembly elections. A significant section of the BJP leaders and political observers believe that during the Assembly elections the central leadership took over the control of the party. But after that, the central leadership has not given much importance to the Bengal unit.
The senior BJP leader said, “Right now all the central leaders are busy with the polls in the other states but we expected some presence of the top leadership in the state. This has sent the wrong message to the cadres.”
Meanwhile, the infighting in the Bengal BJP has no sign to stop. Two months back around 10 BJP MLAs including the Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur openly slammed the state leadership and many of these leaders have been maintaining distance from the state unit. According to sources in the BJP, these leaders do not even attain meetings or programmes by the Bengal BJP.
Moreover, Shantanu Thakur earlier also declared that he will not campaign for the BJP in the civic polls. Significantly, the party sources confirmed that no action was taken against him by the central leadership.
The political observers of Bengal believe that right now the Bengal unit of the BJP is facing a massive leadership crisis. After the defeat of the Bengal Assembly election, the central leadership of the party removed Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and appointed Sukanta Majumdar as the new chief. Sources in the party said that the newly appointed BJP president does not have much ground connection which has harmed the party.
What is the post-civic-poll crisis in Bengal BJP?
The recently held civic polls of Bengal have exposed the poor organisational condition of the BJP in Bengal. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got a vote share of 40.3 per cent which came down to 38 per cent during the 2021 Bengal Assembly polls. In the Assembly bypolls, the BJP lost in all the seats but maintained a 13.3 per cent vote share which came down to 9 per cent in the Kolkata municipal corporation elections. In the recent civic polls, the vote percentage of the BJP was around 13 per cent.
This steady decline in the vote share has irked a significant section of the party leadership. Significantly the party has lost all the municipalities in the Matua belt which is considered the bastion of the party and key vote bank.
At the Chintan Baithak of the party which was held in Kolkata, BJP MP Locket Chattopadhay reportedly said that they should do introspection and must not blame the defeat entirely on alleged poll violence by the TMC. According to reports, she also pointed out that the BJP has been sidelined by the old guards and the selection of the state committee was questionable.
Sources in the party confirmed that several BJP leaders have questioned the state leadership and blamed the faulty line of the party for the defeat in the recent civic poll.
Many disenchanted leaders did not attain the meeting as well where state observer Amit Malviya was also present on behalf of the central leadership. Significantly, Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari was also not present in the meeting. According to sources he avoided the meeting as there could have been an open protest against him.
Why more BJP leaders jumping ship after civic poll defeat
Just a few days after civic polls results were out senior BJP leader Jayprakash Majumdar joined the TMC in the presence of supremo Mamata Banerjee. However, he was suspended from the BJP recently after Majumdar raised questions against the state leadership.
Recently, MP Lockett Chattopadhyay also held a closed-door meeting with many of the disgruntled leaders. Significantly, within 24 hours of this meeting, Majumdar joined the TMC. A senior BJP leader involved in these developments said in the condition of anonymity, “There is no doubt that several senior BJP leaders are feeling neglected within the party. These leaders have contributed to building the BJP state unit. The central leadership should immediately intervene and talk to these leaders.”
The leaders who were present in that meeting refused to comment on the issue. However, senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that there were several BJP leaders, said to be present in the meeting, who wanted to join the TMC and it would happen gradually.
The author is an independent journalist based in Kolkata and former policy research fellow at Delhi Assembly Research Centre. He tweets as @sayantan_gh. Views expressed are personal.
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March 18, 2022 at 01:26PM
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