Exactly after one year of BJP’s electoral drubbing in the hands of Mamata Banerjee, Union Home Minister Amit Shah revisited West Bengal and embarked on a series of programmes— both private and public. His two-day visit on Thursday and Friday last aimed at energizing the sagging morale of the state BJP. The state unit has been in a hopeless state since the party met with a thrashing in the poll-battle on May last year. No wonder, BJP’s ‘Chanakya’ Amit Shah will go all out to plug the loopholes. But what has caught the maximum attention was his dinner with “Bengal’s Prince” Sourav Ganguly at his Kolkata residence. Shah, along with his important party colleagues, leader of the opposition Shuvendu Adhikari, president Sukanta Majumdar, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, IT cell chief Amit Malviya had the ‘courtesy-dinner’, as they termed it.
For many, however, the ‘courtesy-dinner’ is not being seen as merely courteous. It has further fueled the speculation of Sourav joining BJP and leading from the front. It has been in the public domain that BJP made a desperate but unsuccessful bid before the assembly election in Bengal last year to woo Sourav into the BJP fold.
In search of a popular face to counter indomitable Mamata Banerjee, BJP top brass, including none other than Shah, had several back-channel discussions. Sourav preferred to be the out of the political arena for the time being.
The BJP went into the elections without a popular face that can match the charisma of Mamata, and was defeated miserably. Even carpet bombing-like campaigns of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and many other party top brass went in vain. Mamata emerged more powerful grabbing as many as 211 seats, ensuring a one-third majority in the state assembly. The BJP which was dreaming of forming the government for the first time in Bengal had to be satisfied with a meager 77 seats.
In the last year, the BJP has gone down further in the state. On the other hand, Mamata and her party Trinamool Congress has expanded more by defeating the BJP practically everywhere–be it bye-elections or be it local body polls. The BJP could not even retain its Asansol Lok Sabha constituency, losing it by three lakh votes. In one of the most prominent electoral fights in Kolkata’s Ballyganj bypoll, BJP pushed to third position. Trinamool candidate Babul Supriyo, earlier BJP mascot and a minister in the Modi government, has won.
Contrary to this, Mamata’s popularity has increased with a series of populist projects such as Laxmi’s Bhandar, students’ credit cards et al.
The poll outcome has set alarm bells ringing at the BJP’s doorstep in Bengal. A highly demoralised cadre base, and rampant internal rift have pushed the BJP to corner with no hope of a revival soon. With the present dispensation, the BJP high command knows it is practically impossible to retain 18 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Internally, the party does not even think of increasing the number anymore.
The problem with a reliable and hugely acceptable face has been perennial in Bengal BJP. The present incumbent, state president and MP, Sukanta Majumdar lacks mass base. Dilip Ghosh is a good organizer, but he is not accepted by all classes of people. On the other hand, as Shuvendu Adhikari joined BJP from TMC, a large number of BJP leaders and workers have not accepted him sincerely even now.
Winning or losing 125 to 135 of the 294 assembly seats in Bengal depends on support of minority, more precisely Muslim voters. Because BJP is surely not to get minority votes, it needs a definite strategy to win over them. And here needs a trustworthy leader who would be acceptable to both minority and majority voters. Although Muslims in Bengal vote almost en masse to Trinamool with a sole purpose to stop BJP, they may re-think if an already popular face like Sourav emerges in the political arena.
So to make inroads into the Muslim mind, counter Mamata’s unabated popularity and her appeal to almost all segments of society including women, BJP would need another Bengali icon. Sourav fits the bill here. It also fits the BJP’s broader scheme of thinking to capture Bengal.
Is BJP going back to Sourav with a new political message under the guise of dinner?
