The BJP which has been evidently making considerable gains as far as its ground presence in the state of West Bengal is concerned. It has now set an ambitious target of winning at least 25 seats out of the 42 seats in the state during the Lok Sabha polls next year. This target was announced by West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh who also stated that the party has set a target of capturing power in the state in the 2021 assembly polls. Ghosh was speaking at the party’s state executive meeting. He also said, “Concerned with our emergence in state politics, ruling Trinamool Congress will perhaps try to hold hands with Congress to fight us. But that will not help them.” He also made it clear that people in the state were unhappy with Mamata’s anti people policies and were looking for an alternative that the BJP would provide.
Ghosh correctly stated that BJP has already emerged as the main opposition in West Bengal ahead of the Congress and the Leftists. The fact remains that West Bengal politics has seen a sharp turn of events in the last few years. Ever since the BJP stormed to power in the country in 2014 and Prime Minister Modi’s popularity increased consistently, the party also made substantial gains in the state of West Bengal. There was a time when BJP was a non-entity in Mamata ruled state and now it has left behind Congress and the communists to become the main opposition party. The BJP has also been successful in occupying the void which has been left after the decline of Congress and the communists. The BJP is making considerable gains as far as its vote share and mass support are concerned. And all this has been in spite of the fact the cold blooded murders of BJP workers and open political violence against the BJP in the state.
The RSS has also been active in ensuring that the misdeeds of the Mamata led government in West Bengal are exposed publicly. There has been a phenomenal rise in RSS presence in the state over the past few years which shows the determined attitude of the RSS and the BJP to end TMC’s mis-governance in the state. This outreach campaign by the RSS is definitely going to prove handy for the BJP when it goes to Lok Sabha polls next year.
Mamata Banerjee has been in part responsible for the massive opposition that she has created for itself. Her pro-illegal Bangladeshi immigrants stance has gone on to show how she is more concerned about her vote bank than the well being of the state of West Bengal and its people. Moreover, under her tenure West Bengal has become a hotbed of Islamic communalism and fundamentalism. The victims of the state’s pro Islamisation policies have been Hindus who have been made to suffer in face of back to back anti-Hindu riots in the state. Instead of protecting the Hindus, Mamata Banerjee chose to add insult to their wounds. It is shocking how the state government has targeted and banned several Hindu festivals in the state clearly showing deep hatred in Mamata’s heart towards Hindus.
BJP chief Amit Shah’s historic speech in Kolkata and the excellent reception that it received went on to show that the BJP is poised to stage an upset for Mamata in West Bengal. At that time, Shah had called for uprooting TMC from the state and it seems that now Ghosh and other men on ground are working out the details for throwing the TMC out of the state.
If the BJP is able to achieve the target that it has set for itself, it could have far reaching and long term impacts in the state of West Bengal. Such a massive victory in West Bengal would officially announce the arrival of BJP in West Bengal. The most immediate of its consequences would be the defeat of Mamata Banerjee in 2021 state assembly elections. The BJP should go with full force into 2019 elections as far as West Bengal is concerned and trigger the fall of Mamata Banerjee in one stroke. It is going to be a historic victory over a draconian, totalitarian and anti-Hindu government for the BJP.
