In the wake of violence during the recently concluded Panchayat Elections in West Bengal, in which over 50 people lost their lives and many opposition candidates were forced to withdraw their nomination due to intimidation by Trinamool Congress goons, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, State president of Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal, talked exclusively to Organiser Assistant Editor Ravi Mishra in Kolkata. He claimed that Mamata Banerjee deliberately refrained from speaking on violence during Panchayat polls in order to give a free hand to TMC goons to indulge in violence. This tactic was aimed at demoralising the BJP workers and prevent them from working with full energy before the 2024 General Elections. Excerpts:
BJP has performed better than previous Panchayat Elections. However, this is not up to the mark. What is your take on this?
This was a harsh election because on most of the seats, Trinamool Congress tampered with the voting procedure. They started looting votes. First, they terrorised the voters during the campaign. Second, during the polling day, they tried every means to pressurise the presiding officers and voting personnel. Even in one instance, in my constituency, one policeman came to me and requested me to shift him from that duty. He had been beaten. He told me that he was threatened that if he did not allow false voting then he would be killed after the voting procedure. And later, repolling was done in that constituency. This is one of the examples. There are thousands of booths like this, and nobody can visit all of them. However, despite all these threats issued by TMC, Bharatiya Janata Party has secured more votes for the 11,000 Panchayat members, which is double of the 2018 Panchayat elections. All the credit goes to our volunteers, who fought even in adverse conditions.
“This was a harsh election because on most of the seats, Trinamool Congress tampered with the voting procedure. They started looting votes. First, they terrorised the voters during the campaign”
Despite allegations of corruption against many TMC leaders, BJP could not attract voters. What went wrong?
TMC has a special advantage in West Bengal. They have 30 per cent Muslim votes. They will not vote for anyone even if TMC does corruption. That is their mindset, as most of the Muslims in the State have been radicalised by preachers from Bangladesh. They have radicalised most of the Muslim population. Only a few percentages of Muslim votes sifted from TMC to other parties like Indian Secular Front (ISF), Left and Congress. But, the ordinary voters, even this time also, could not exhibit the actual voting scenario because the voting procedure was compromised. How can you expect that the upcoming result is the exact reflection? Only on those seats did we were able to do better, where we could retaliate, or TMC thought that ok on these seats, BJP is weak, so don’t do anything, and they will lose. That’s why the number of seats of BJP increased. Even our voting per cent also increased and reached 25 per cent. If free and fair elections had been conducted in the presence of Central Forces, our vote per centage would have been 45 per cent.
You talked about Muslim radicalisation in West Bengal. Can you elaborate on this?
This is a matter of concern as the borders of West Bengal are porous. There are a few areas like Basirhat, North and South Parganas, where demography has enormously changed in the last 20 years. The fact is that this is not possible biologically. It clearly shows that they get support from a political party (TMC).
Are you saying that infiltrators get support from TMC?
Yes, they get all kinds of support from TMC. That’s why TMC leaders in South 24 Parganas are settling Rohingya families there. They know that after five-ten years, they will be TMC voters. So, the whole North and South 24 Parganas have become sanctuary of Islamists, who came from different areas of Bangladesh. The fact is that the demography in West Bengal had drastically changed.
Violence during Panchayat Elections remained a big headline for several days. However, Mamata Banerjee was tightlipped on this issue. What would you say about this?
Mamata Banerjee is a very clever politician. She is eying the Lok Sabha elections. She has deliberately kept mum on this issue. So that TMC goons could do whatever they wanted. As a result, it would demoralise the BJP workers and they would not able to work with full energy before 2024 General Elections. And, BJP will get defeated in West Bengal.
“BJP’s target is 35 seats. We have started preparing for the Lok Sabha elections and planning to make some changes at the organisation-level”
In the wake of violence, there is insecurity among BJP workers. How would you encourage them to work for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections?
When I took charge, there was a similar situation. While travelling with our previous state president Dilip Da in many districts, I observed that only 40 to 50 per cent of volunteers, who hold the post at the district level, were present there. The condition was such that we could not say whether they were BJP members or had shifted loyalties to other political parties or were out of politics. However, after the hard work of two years, the party again gathered that kind of energy which was present before 2019. Obviously, we have hard task ahead as most of our volunteers have been demoralised as attacks keep occurring. Thankfully, it is the assertiveness of BJP leadership that the magnitude of the attack is lesser compared to the 2021 legislative polls. Only in Muslim areas, we are having difficulties. However, we are taking the help of Central Forces and trying to energise our workers. If we do hard work again, our volunteers will come out from their homes and fight. However, they are expecting something from the central leadership also. The Left vote has increased from 10 to 12 per cent. So, this is one alarming thing. Most of the public support that we have at present shifted from Left to BJP, but, some people are now thinking that there is some understanding between TMC and the central leadership of BJP. However, we don’t believe in it. People started believing in this because Left cleverly gossiped these things. Therefore, there is a need for some action from the top leadership. We are fighting TMC honestly, which should also be reflected in our actions. Because public expectation is very high from the Modi Government.
Is Bengal BJP getting support from the top leadership?
Yes, we are getting support. But, the public mindset is different. So, we need visible kind of things so that people can understand that BJP is fighting aggressively to restrict TMC in their home turf.
Recently, Enforcement Directorate summoned TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee in a recruitment scam. ED also questioned his wife in connection with the coal pilferage case. What is your take on this?
They have been accused for a long time. ED has been sending them summons. They are going to the courts. The fact is that they have enormous amounts of money and they have engaged top-notch lawyers. But, it is very difficult to make common people understand about this fact. Investigations have started in Saradha and Narada scams but no one has been convicted so far. So, people lose hope.
Unemployment in the State is a big concern. We don’t see this issue being raised by the State BJP.
Undoubtedly, unemployment is a big issue. According to the West Bengal Government, 45 lakhs of people have left the State and they are working as migrant labourers in different parts of the country. Actual data could be one crore. This is a big issue and it has been raised by BJP several times.
“Rohingyas get all kinds of support from TMC. That’s why TMC leaders in South 24 Parganas are settling Rohingya families there. They know that after five-ten years, they will be TMC voters “
Mamata Banerjee keeps talking about democracy. Even she was in Patna, a few weeks back for an opposition meeting, she talked on those lines. In reality, the situation in Bengal is grim and democracy is non-existent. Many opposition candidates were forced to withdraw their nominations during the Panchayat elections. Therefore, many seats remained uncontested.
Mamata Banerjee is ‘tanashaah’ (dictator), and in democratic countries worldwide, nobody can be compared with her in this regard. Mamata is the lady incarnation of Hitler. She does not believe in democracy. All her steps are autocratic and they are suppressing opposition.
How many seats BJP is expecting from Bengal in Lok Sabha elections?
Our target is 35 seats. We have started preparing for the Lok Sabha elections. After the 2021 legislative elections, we got less time to strengthen our organisation. In the 2019 elections, the Modi wave was the reason why we swelled from two to 18 seats. This time, we are better organised because we have the data and we are familiar with our booth members too. We are planning to make some changes at the organisation-level also from the top to the lower level.
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