In Bengal BJP, stirrings of NRC doubt Polarising issues like NRC, which might be effective elsewhere, would not work in Bengal

Chandra Bose

Sandip Chowdhury , TT, 30.11.19, Calcutta: The Bengal BJP appeared in disarray a day after the 0-3 bypoll drubbing, with senior leader and Netaji family member Chandra Bose calling for “cleansing the party system” and devising a “strategy specific” to the state even as his colleagues argued otherwise.

Bose’s comments, made through a series of tweets on Friday, were construed as a signal that polarising issues like NRC, which might be effective elsewhere, would not work in Bengal.

“It’s essential for @BJP4Bengal to cleanse the party system & devise a strategy specific to Bengal. Pan India strategy would not apply to the land of Swami Vivekananda & Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,” Bose, a state vice-president of the BJP and Netaji’s grandnephew, tweeted.

In comments that marked a 180-degree turn for a BJP leader and almost echoed rivals, Bose called for introspection.

“Political parties must take interest in Bengal genuinely to work for its people & develop the basic infrastructure for uplift & not just treat it as a vote bank for political victory. This would not work as the people of Bengal are politically sharp & astute,” Chandra said through another tweet, hinting the BJP should not have made the NRC its main poll plank in Bengal.

Bose, though, didn’t offer any alternative path the party should chart in Bengal. He was also silent on the key question of whether it would ever be possible for the BJP to dump religion — at the core of its ideology derived from the RSS — in Bengal.

But, according to BJP insiders, sections in the state leadership agreed with Bose, saying chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul had successfully “created fear” among the voters about the NRC and the saffron camp had miserably failed to reassure them explaining the benefits of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

However, arguing in favour CAB and the NRC, state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said on Friday that those were key issues and would continue to be so irrespective of electoral implications.

“CAB is within our party’s ideology, which will help in the implementation of NRC across India, including Bengal. How can we abandon it?” Basu said when asked about Bose’s tweets.

The view captures the BJP’s dilemma as several party insiders think it is not possible to abandon NRC at this point after having rooted for it for several months.

A source said that even if the BJP abandoned the NRC plank, the damage had already been done as Mamata had seized on the issue.

BJP circles were on Friday agog with talk about the pros and cons of NRC and Bose’s comments, with leaders speaking in different voices on both.

Reacting to Bose’s tweets, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said: “The party is open to ideas but as a party functionary, he (Bose) should have taken it up at the right forum rather than making his suggestions through tweets and trying to grab public attention.”

Some other BJP leaders brushed aside Bose’s comments. “ Instead of sharing his views in the run-up to the bypolls, he said all these things after the results. He is a lateral entrant in the party and can say all these. The question is, what has he contributed to the BJP?” said a senior state leader.

The BJP state leadership is scheduled to meet on Saturday to review the bypoll results and sources said the debate — kicked off by Bose’s comments — was likely to continue as divisions within the party sharpened after the debacle.

The loss in the Kharagpur Assembly seat — held by state BJP president Dilip Ghosh till he became an MP earlier this year — may prompt his detractors to ask him to take responsibility for the loss. “I can foresee a confusion on what line to take…Factionalism is also likely to intensify. Suddenly, things are looking difficult for us,” said a source.