Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had to sit empty-handed after the results of the assembly bypolls were declared that reported the party’s loss against Trinamool Congress. However, the defeat of the BJP has clearly depicted that State BJP is demoralized following the political killings and exodus of several ministers from BJP. The party, thus, itself conceded grounds to TMC and Tathagatha Roy is furious for the same.
Tathagata Roy angry over TMC’s victory
Following the Trinamool Congress’ victory in the bypolls to four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal on Tuesday, Tathagata Roy, former Governor of Meghalaya and Tripura and a member of the BJP showed resentment towards his own party. Roy, in a series of tweets, had blamed ‘KDSA’, BJP’s top leadership of Bengal (BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, state party chief Dilip Ghosh, national joint general secretary (organization) Shiv Prakash, and national secretary Arvind Menon) for the party’s defeat in the state.
He iterated that “I feel hatred towards BJP Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya because he has handed over West Bengal to Mamata Banerjee.” Blaming Vijayvargiya for the state assembly outcome in which the BJP won 77 out of 294 seats, Roy claimed that the “thumping majority” was “to the credit of Vijayvargiya”. He also noted that the West Bengal 2021 election results are a “treachery by him”, meaning Vijayvargiya.
Moreover, former state party president Dilip Ghosh also expressed his resentment against those who had defected just before the state assembly election. He claimed that that the party had a huge number of “wheeler-dealers”. However, with his statements, he targeted those who had not defected back to the party they originally came from. Probably, he was targeting Suvendu Adhikari who is currently the BJP Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
Interestingly, Roy retweeted Dilip’s tweet to quote, “They had welcomed the pimps with open arms and humility. Those who worked for the BJP ideology were asked, what have you done for so many years? We brought 18 seats. Vini Vidi Vici like Julius Caesar. There is no point in behaving like fools. It is because of such actions that the BJP is in such a plight.”
Exodus of prominent BJP leaders to TMC
Whereas the internal turmoil in the BJP in West Bengal is one of the reasons behind the party’s failure in the state, it also contradicts the organisational command structure of the rigidly hierarchical party. However, BJP high command is silent over the pinpointed attacks by Roy and others in the state party against Kailash Vijayvargiya, Shiv Prakash and Arvind Menon post the election fiasco.
On the one hand, Suvendu Adhikari’s induction as the main man in the party has led to various infights in the party, and on the other hand, a massive exodus has been witnessed from BJP to TMC in the past few months. Both the developments have created enough chaos in the state BJP of west Bengal.
After the Narendra Modi government came to the fore in 2014, a lot of leaders have used the party to wash off their political sins. With Narendra Modi being the face of the BJP in virtually every election, it becomes easier for the particular politician to win the election. However, the opportunists are loyal to the party only to the extent of their demands being met. The moment they sense a better opportunity, they have no qualms about leaving the party.
A recent example is Babul Supriyo who joined the Trinamool Congress party (TMC) earlier this year. Babul Supriyo has been a key member of the BJP since the 2014 general elections. As soon as he joined the party in March 2014, BJP gave him a ticket to contest from the Parliamentary seat of Asansol, where he won by defeating Dola Sen. Riding on the Modi wave in the 2019 general elections, he won from the Asansol as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate defeating Moon Sen by 1.97 lakh votes.
However, seeing his popularity in Bengal, BJP decided to field him from Tollyganj in the 2021 assembly elections in Bengal but he lost the election despite the fact that BJP had won almost 26 times more seats than in the 2016 election. Thereafter, he was dropped from the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the aftermath of his removal, he announced his retirement from politics. But, later, joined TMC.
Read more: There are many Babul Supriyos in the BJP. Let’s hope they don’t become ministers
It is pertinent to note that in the aftermath of the assembly election, TMC had indulged in state-sponsored killings and lynchings of non-TMC voters, especially the saffron party voters. Hindus were targeted en masse and forced to live like refugees in their own home state.
Read more: Big setback in recently-held bypolls lays bare the state-level leadership crisis in BJP
However, the BJP and its leaders refused to come to the ground and take decisive action against the dictatorial regime of Mamata. They left the public to fend for themselves, and hence, the anger of being left alone got translated into the voting pattern. But, the party’s high brass needs to intervene quickly and should demand the interrogation against Mamata Banerjee on the grounds of political killings. In addition to that, the party needs to resolve the infights and chaos in state BJP as complacency and arrogance can backfire.