Amit Shah to visit Bengal once every month before Lok Sabha elections

Home minister had arrived at city to attend multiple events, his itinerary included two events celebrating birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar, TT, Calcutta,11.05.23 :Union home minister Amit Shah is said to have expressed the desire to visit Bengal once every month in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Although the central leadership of the BJP customarily commandeers the Bengal bandobast ahead of every major election, its unusual focus has once again led to questions on the state unit’s effectiveness, sources said.

“Amitji has said he wishes to visit the state every month till the Lok Sabha polls. I doubt if he will have to do so for any other state,” a BJP state leader said. “Had our leaders been as efficient as they claim to be, it wouldn’t have taken someone of Amitji’s stature to come to Bengal so frequently,” he added.

According to the sources, Shah expressed his desire to visit the state regularly to Bengal unit chief Sukanta Majumdar and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari during dinner with them in Calcutta on Tuesday night. The Union home minister had arrived at the city on Monday to attend multiple events. His itinerary included two events celebrating the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

Shah’s next visit to Bengal is likely to be in June, during which he will address a public meeting. He has asked the state leaders to draw up a plan on which areas he should be prioritising and would schedule his visits accordingly. Apart from public meetings, the Union home minister is also eyeing to win over the state’s electorate by trying to show his respect for the Bengal pantheon of national icons during his tours.

He purportedly asked Majumdar and Adhikari to visit the districts more often.

The BJP has identified 24 Lok Sabha constituencies that it did not win in 2024, divided them into six clusters and assigned one Union minister for each of them. These ministers have been visiting the clusters regularly and sending reports to the central leadership. Additionally, both Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda will each visit 12 of these seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to visit Bengal soon.

“The central leaders’ visits will boost out chances of winning these seats in 2024. It is clear from our conversations with the ministers deputed to Bengal that Delhi wishes to keep a watchful eye over what we do here,” a state leader in charge of one of the clusters said.

The Bengal BJP, whose organisational strength has taken a nosedive since it was handed a drubbing by the state’s electorate in 2021, is beleaguered with factional feuds and an exodus of leaders and public representatives. It has failed to make its mark in any of the bypolls or civic elections that followed the Assembly elections. The CPM, with no representation in the Bengal Assembly, has garnered more votes than the BJP in the subsequent elections.

In closed-door meetings of the party, BJP leaders — sometimes its public representatives — have alleged that the party is not doing enough to mobilise its cadres on social issues pitted against Trinamul Congress. “It appears that the central leadership is finally taking cognisance of the inabilities of our leaders,” another source said.