FUMBLING AT THE FINISH LINE

Will internal rift and controversial candidate selections upset the BJP applecart in West Bengal?

- Romita Datta

“Political tourism bahut achha chal raha hai (Political tourism is on in full swing).” This jibe from Union home minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s chief strategist for the West Bengal assembly election, on March 15 was directed at the 25-odd party leaders in charge of organisational work, who have been camping in the state for the past three months to realise Mission ‘Ebar Bangla (Now Bengal)’. Earlier in the day, Shah had to call off his rally in Jhargram district at the eleventh hour as the BJP local unit was able to mobilise only a handful of people to turn up.

Shah’s dressing down for party leaders, though, was prompted by a deeper concern. Campaigning in Guwahati for the Assam election, he decided on a brief stopover in Bengal on the way back to Delhi following reports of intense disgruntlement among party leaders and workers over the selection of candidates. Between March 14 and 16, BJP workers blockaded highways and vandalised party offices in parts of Howrah, Hooghly and South Dinajpur districts. Leaders, including national vice-president Mukul Roy, national joint general secretary (organisation) Shivprakash and Barrackpur MP Arjun Singh, were mobbed at the party headquarters in Kolkata. For the BJP, which claims to have a disciplined cadre and promises to rid Bengal of the ‘cult of political violence’, the incidents were deeply embarrassing.

While in Kolkata for a night, Shah, it is learnt, questioned several decisions taken in the run-up to the Bengal election. He asked BJP national president J.P. Nadda why last October, a relatively inexperienced Amitava Chakravorty had replaced Subrata Chattopadhyay, an experienced RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) hand, as party general secretary (organisation). Chakravorty, an RSS