By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: It is an open secret that West Bengal unit of BJP is a divided house. Another yawning crack in it is discernible post former state chief Dilip Ghosh’s visit to the inauguration ceremony of Jagannath temple in Digha at chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s invitation.
Senior BJP leaders joined a chorus of criticism against Ghosh after his highly publicized interaction with the Trinamool Congress supremo Banerjee hit the headlines. While some felt that the visit is a step in preparing the ground for crossing over to Trinamool, others were of the view that it sent a wrong signal to the saffron rank and file.
“You have done big work’ Ghosh told the TMC chief, thereby taking the wind off his party’s campaign. The party has been questioning the TMC dispensation’s move to use government funds to build the temple and woo Hindu votes before 2026 Assembly elections.
While the TMC leadership has welcomed the remarks of the former state BJP chief, it has landed the saffron camp in a sticky wicket. For the BJP leaders now find themselves in a difficulty to explain Ghosh’s presence together with his newly wed wife Rinku Majumdar at the temple inauguration.
Banerjee and Ghosh were also seen exchanging pleasantries. The state government later clarified that Ghosh had been officially invited to the function and the chief minister has good relations with him
This fact the state BJP maintains it was unaware of. And Ghosh’s detractors in the party had a field day.
State BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said that the party does not endorse Ghosh’s visit. At a time when Hindus have been targeted in Murshidabad, Ghosh’s visit would make it appear that the issue is being ignored.
Rubbishing the personal nature of the visit, former state BJP chief Tathagata Roy felt visiting the principal political opponent together with his wife cannot be termed as a courtesy call. After all, Dilip Ghosh is a political leader, he added.
Ghosh’s visit comes at a time when Hindu sentiments are rising in BJP’s favour post Murshidabad violence and the incidents in Bangladesh, a senior BJP leader requesting anonymity said. The timing of the visit has put the party on the back foot. he added.
Unfazed by the barrage of criticism against him, Ghosh said that he had done anything against party policy as it had not given a boycott call. Not naming Majumdar or Roy, he questioned the present state leadership he pointed out that during his tenure as state unit chief there were 18 MPs and 77 MLAs but it has now reduced to 12 MPs 70 MLAs.
Rejecting personal ties with others having divergent political views is not BJP’s culture, Ghosh said. But people who joined the party in 2021 will not realise this, he said taking a swipe at leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari.
Attending with his wife the Jagannath temple inauguration at Digha with chief minister Mamata Banerjee is a flash-point in the ongoing power struggle between Ghosh and Adhikari. While Ghosh pursues a grassroot approach aligned to the RSS style of functioning, Adhikari is pushing a no-holds barred Hindutva line.
Intra-party struggles in state BJP could not have surfaced at a worse time as Murshidabad conflagration is being considered to be a poll-plank for the saffron camp in 2026 Assembly elections. But old loyalties, personal ambitions and ideological rifts are threatening to implode the party.
Unwittingly the BJP has found itself in the position of a divided house on which the people are unlikely to be reposing their faith in next year’s Assembly elections. The fallout of Ghosh’s temple visit has given a shot in the arm to Trinamool and arguably the Left and Congress to nurture their support bases afresh. (IPA Service)
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