Dilip’s silence on Prez rule demand raises brows in BJP

KOLKATA: The Union home minister and many of his party colleagues have been vocal over imposition of President’s Rule in Bengal, but not Dilip Ghosh. The studied silence of a person who otherwise doesn’t miss an opportunity to hit out at the ruling Trinamool since he took charge as Bengal BJP president has raised eyebrows in party circles ahead of Amit Shah’s two-day Bengal visit on November 5.
Ghosh, speaking to the media in Kharagpur on Monday, said: “There has been no let-up in political violence in Bengal during the pandemic, not even during Durga Puja. Our activists were killed during the puja. Not a single day passes away without incidents of violence or killings. There is a concerted effort to spread fear among people ahead of elections.”
Having said so, he stopped short of saying like Shah that Bengal’s situation is “just” for imposition of President’s Rule.
According to BJP insiders, the difference in stance between the BJP brass and Bengal BJP president is a reflection of how they are reading the situation. “The Union home ministry has a ready dossier of a sharp deterioration in law and order in the state. It has also an account of how the state government has disregarded central directives that may lead to a constitutional crisis,” a state BJP leader said.
The Bengal governor recently briefed the Union home minister about the “lack of information” in the state bureaucracy over the expanding terror network. Dhankhar also asked how a “proclaimed offender” like Bimal Gurung could meet the press in the heart of the city.
If all these add to the recipe of President’s Rule in Bengal, there is another side that Ghosh doesn’t want to wish away. Ghosh, along with a few in Bengal BJP, want to go slow lest such imposition proves counterproductive given Bengal’s psyche.
This section maintains that the 2021 poll battle will be between pro-Mamata and anti-Mamata votes, in which BJP is eyeing major share of the latter. This anti-Mamata vote is not a homogeneous one, but a pile of disgruntled voters across party lines. They may choose BJP out of “disgust” towards Trinamool which essentially is a no-vote, not a positive vote for BJP.
The core BJP issues of Ram Mandir and Citizenship (Amendment) Act may consolidate BJP’s vote-bank surge, but will not be enough for it to emerge as the single largest party, not to speak of getting a majority. An analysis of BJP’s 40% vote share in the 2019 LS polls and 18 seats in Bengal bears out the case.
Ghosh, instead, wants the Centre to deploy paramilitary forces a month ahead of polls. “You needn’t worry. Central forces will man booths and won’t allow the state police within the polling station premises,” he said in Diamond Harbour the other day.
The BJP central leadership doesn’t want to take chances. It is desperate to make a breakthrough in Bengal in 2021 because it needs more MPs to stay comfortable in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. With Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat reaching saturation in public support, BJP is looking for new pastures in eastern India.