Union Minister and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Wednesday gave a peptalk to Bharatiya Janata Party karyakartas who have been on the backfoot in West Bengal after the party put up an unexpectedly poor show in the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly by-elections held last week.
He was in Kolkata to chair the Bengal BJP’s extended state committee meeting here on Wednesday to outline the party’s political strategy in the state in the wake of its poor performance in the general election and July 10 by-polls.
The meeting was significant since the party had called all district presidents, general secretaries, observers of Lok Sabha and Assembly segments, and mandal presidents in Calcutta to analyse the party’s failure and outline its next strategy.
The Bengal BJP has been on the back foot since the party won only 12 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — six less than in the 2019 general elections — prompting many BJP leaders to accuse the current state leadership of failing to retain the party’s organisational strength that was built since 2017-18.
Addressing a congregation of about 3,000 party leaders from across Bengal, Manohar Lal emphasised that though the number of Lok Sabha seats had reduced from last time, the increase in the percentage of votes for the BJP was an encouraging sign. “Mathematically, we may have fallen behind compared to 2019 but the percentage has gone up. You should remember that this has helped Narendra Modi become PM for the third time,” he added.
“In Bengal, our karyakartas do not only shed perspiration, they also shed their blood to work for the party. They put their lives in danger. Many karyakartas had to sacrifice their lives also in the service of the party. I salute them and their families. I also salute the spirit with which you are fighting in this state,” Manohar Lal said to thunderous applause.
He emphasised that since West Bengal had a divided polity, “a people-to-people connect has to be established with the people of the State. We have to work in cohesion to bring back the lost glory of Bengal.”
He tried to raise the morale of the party members by saying that everybody should remember the rich history of Bengal. “Nobody knows Hindutva better than the people of Bengal,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, senior party leader and Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, stirred up a controversy, saying “it was time to stop the slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Speaking at the BJP state executive meeting in Kolkata, the Leader of the Opposition said the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls was the result of a lack of support from the minorities in the State.
He also called for the dissolution of the party’s minority wing. Adhikari coined a new slogan of ‘Jo Hamare Saath, Hum Unke Saath’ (Those who are with us, we are with them) for the party to move forward following its debacle in the Lok Sabha election and subsequent by-polls to four Assembly seats.
“I had spoken about nationalist Muslims and you too had said ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. But I will not say this anymore. Instead, we will now say, ‘Jo Hamare Saath, Hum Unke Saath’. Stop this ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. Minority Morcha is not needed,” Adhikari said.
The ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ slogan was given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 to promote inclusive and holistic development of all Indians, irrespective of caste and religion.
As a controversy erupted over his remarks, Adhikari said he did not mean to disrespect the religion of others. He clarified that he meant to say that the party in Bengal should align with those who support them politically.
Adhikari said that the ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ slogan of PM Modi was the NDA government’s agenda, and it won’t change.
“Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas is PM Modi’s slogan, and it won’t change with my words… What I meant was that the BJP in Bengal should align with those who support them politically, and we should keep a safe distance from those who won’t come with us. It is not connected with the administration or development,” Adhikari said.
