‘People in Bengal see BJP as a rescuer’

Congress leader says they feel only the saffron party can resist Trinamool

June 06, 2019 10:44 pm | Updated 10:44 pm IST - New Delhi

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. File

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. File

The dramatic rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal is not so much about communal politics as it is about providing an alternative political narrative to the ruling Trinamool, said the former West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Mr. Chowdhury, who won the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat for the fifth consecutive term, appealed to party president Rahul Gandhi not to relinquish his post to “prevent the Congress from withering away”.

“In West Bengal, unlike other north Indian States, it is not the rise of Hindutva or the growth of purely communal politics. On the contrary, in West Bengal, common people, especially those who are discriminated, tortured, persecuted are now under the impression that the BJP is the only party who can resist the tyranny of the Trinamool regime,” he said in an interview with The Hindu .

Major switch

“The other Opposition parties, the CPI(M) and the Congress, don’t have the kind of capacity, resources or political leadership to resist the Trinamool’s atrocities. That is why people switched over to the BJP. Even Communist workers who are diametrically opposite to the BJP ideologically have supported them,” Mr. Chowdhury said.

“I don’t deny that there is a communal tinge but the rise of the BJP is largely because of political atrocities, goonda raj and syndicate raj of the Trinamool. For example, in the last panchayat elections, over 1 crore people were not able to vote due to the violence unleashed by the ruling party; 20,000 seats were won by the Trinamool unopposed. The BJP has come as a rescuer and a protector. Out of desperation, people have shifted their allegiance to the BJP,” he said.

Commenting on the political war of words over the religious slogan such as Jai Shri Ram , the Congress leader said Bengal would increasingly witness “competitive communalism”.

“Mamata Banerjee [West Bengal Chief Minister] is going all out to retain her Muslim vote bank and projecting herself as a messiah, as if she is the only one who can protect them from the BJP and that is why she got enraged at the slogan. It’s a ploy to send a message. The BJP too is taking advantage of the situation and trying to extract political mileage as much as possible,” he said.

 

Mr. Chowdhury maintained that while the BJP is attempting to ‘polarise’ communities along religious lines, the Trinamool is trying to create a divide between Bengalis and non-Bengalis apart from playing on religious fault lines.

He admitted that the ‘bonhomie’ between the Trinamool and the Congress at the Centre sent a wrong message to the voters in the State.

“I know my party is a national party and we have some national compulsions but it is such kind of bonhomie that sent a wrong signal and we suffered for it....We had not been able to provide election agents in booths as police and ruling party goons virtually evicted everyone. But here in Delhi, Congress and Trinamool leaders were moving the Election Commission for Trinamool candidates. There was not a single word uttered for the Congress,” he said.

Once a strong votary of the Congress-Left tie-up in Bengal, Mr. Chowdhury denied that Mr. Gandhi’s decision to contest from Left-ruled Kerala led to the collapse of the Congress-Left pact. “By then [Mr. Gandhi’s announcement from Wayanad], everything had collapsed...Going forward, there is no option for the Congress and the Left and they have to come together,” he said.

Talking about the leadership crisis in the Congress, he said, “Rahul ji is a rallying point for all workers and leaders. This is not the time for him to relinquish his post as Congress will wither away.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.