Bengal BJP unit sets up disciplinary action committee amid dissent

The timing of the decision has prompted several party workers to question if there is no space to voice their opinions anymore

Dilip Ghosh: File picture

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |  TT  |  Calcutta   |  09.06.21: BJP’s Bengal unit on Tuesday set up a disciplinary action committee with an intent to curb anti-party activities at a time when the saffron camp is rattled by agitation by workers at the grassroots and criticism from within the party.

The formation of the disciplinary panel had been due since the new state committee had been formed in 2020 with Dilip Ghosh as the president.

“We have set up a disciplinary action committee with MP Subhas Sarkar at its helm. Two other leaders Biswapriyo Roy Chowdhury and Rathindra Bose will assist him,” Ghosh told journalists at the end of a state executive meeting on Tuesday.

The timing of the decision has prompted several BJP workers to question if there is no space to voice their opinions anymore. Ghosh himself faced two protests — one at Hooghly and the other at Asansol — in the last few days. Many in the party felt it appeared the leaders were trying to stop them from speaking the truth.

However, the same meeting where measures of restricting dissent were decided also witnessed at least two leaders raising questions over several instances of conduct of the party during and after the Assembly polls. According to sources, Barrackpore MP and Trinamul turncoat Arjun Singh and a state vice-president Raj Kamal Pathak targeted the central and state BJP leaderships over the drubbing it had received in the Bengal polls.

Singh pointed out how the para-dropping of leaders from outside Bengal had worked in favour of the Trinamul Congress and Mamata Banerjee’s attempts to tag the BJP as a party of “outsiders”.

He, according to a source, accused leaders from Delhi of visiting places like Midnapore and speaking in Hindi. “Naturally, the people there failed to understand what the leaders had to say, which alienated them from the party,” the source added. Talking to a TV channel later, Trinamul turncoat Sabysachi Dutta echoed the sentiments of Singh.

“Arjunda was furious. He said in spite of being an MP, he hadn’t been consulted before leaders were sent to his constituency for campaigning,” a source said.

Pathak, on the other hand, had said it was necessary to discuss why the party, which had secured a lead in 121 Assembly segments in the 2019 parliamentary polls and targeted a win in more than 200 seats, was stopped at 77.

“It is good that we have gone up to 77 from three. But we must also discuss why we were restricted to 77,” Pathak is quoted to have said at the meeting.

Hours after the committee was announced, BJP’s Domjur candidate and Trinamul turncoat Rajib Banerjee took to Twitter to criticise his party’s stand on persistent attacks on the state government and the chief minister.

Later, Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan hit back at Rajib on Twitter and said: “You remembered this after losing by 42000 votes? 42 BJP workers have been killed and to keep mum at this time would mean supporting the ruling party…”

According to a BJP leader, all these contradicting statements show how disoriented the party is at this moment. “On one hand, the disciplinary action committee is being set up and at the same meeting, two leaders speak against the leadership. It’s mayhem.”

The BJP has decided to launch state-wide agitation from June 23 to protest against the death of its workers in violence after declaration of Assembly results. .