BJP using Gujarat model to breach Mamata’s Bengal citadel

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is busy implementing an aggressive strategy to capture the West Bengal Assembly elections, which are due in six months, top party sources say that the strategy seems to be shaped after the organisational model followed for the Gujarat elections.

Gujarat has been the BJP’s laboratory for conducting organisational experiments, which started after 1985. The model used in Gujarat, which has been the BJP’s stronghold for three decades, is being repeated across the country today, including West Bengal. According to the strategy, the BJP created zones for booth level management and the same has been implemented in Bengal. Gujarat Pradesh BJP general secretary Bhikhubhai Dalsania is handling the important responsibility of election management.

In Gujarat, BJP had first looked at urban areas in Gujarat and Ahmedabad Municipal. The corporation emphasised the goal of acquisition. That is why the BJP made the issue of Muslim appeasement by the Congress an issue, keeping in mind the resentment of the people against the notorious Don Latif. After achieving this, the BJP conducted organisational experiments at the provincial level and divided Gujarat into five zones according to geographical area. For the five zones, namely Saurashtra-Kutch, Ahmedabad, North Gujarat, Central Gujarat and South Gujarat, the BJP made the organisation’s priority different and also separated the issues.

Each zone was then divided into districts and a senior leader was put in charge to guide the local leadership and strengthen the district-taluka organisation. In this way, the BJP made the organisation function harmoniously across villages in Gujarat and made the workers specialised in booth level micro-management by giving them continuous training.

West Bengal has been at