Amit Shah's eventful two-day Bengal visit may help revive BJP state unit

The two-day West Bengal tour of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on May 5-6 begs the question whether it will help the state unit of the BJP to restructure its scattered organisational network.

 

 

The question also arises on whether Shah gave a clear message to the state party leaders to stop the infighting and work unitedly to boost the falling morale of the party workers.

Political observers feel that only time can tell whether the minister's visit will ultimately help the Bengal unit of the BJP or not. However, these observers admit that Shah utilized these two days as a seasoned politician in giving clear messages to his party workers in the state.

 

At public programmes, Shah gave strong anti-Trinamool Congress and anti-state government messages clearly aimed at boosting the morale of the party workers and leaders. However, in a closed door meeting with top BJP leaders from West Bengal, the Union Home Minister gave a clear message that being in the opposition the saffron leaders will have to fight their own battles instead of depending on Article 355 and 356 or on the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In that closed door meeting, Shah reportedly told his partymen that the Union government cannot act in whatever manner it wishes to against an elected state government which came to power just a year back and that too with such a huge majority. However, at the same time, he assured the state BJP leaders that he would come to West Bengal more often.

Political analysts feel this assurance is a subtle message to the state leadership that if they can build up a counter-attack strategy against the Trinamool, the central leadership of the party will not hesitate to stand by the state leadership.

According to senior political analyst Rajagopal Dhar Chakraborty, Shah as a seasoned politician knows quite well that the use of Article 355 or 356 can be counter-productive for the party in West Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"So, despite war cries at public programmes to boost the morale of the party workers, he did not forget to remind the state leaders about the reality that the Trinamool Congress has to be countered politically."

Trinamool Congress state general secretary and party spokesman Kunal Ghosh too feels that any initiative on Article 355 and 356 will result in the total wipeout of the BJP from the state in the next elections.

Political analyst Amal Kumar Mukherjee pointed out that a seasoned politician always knows the difference between boosting the morale of the grassroot workers through vocal tonic on the one hand and reminding the senior leaders of the party about the political responsibilities, on the other.

"The Union Home Minister seems to know this very well and has used his political experience throughout his tour. He boosted the morale of the party workers at public programmes and also reminded the state leaders about their political responsibilities," he said.

However, state BJP leaders are more excited about the war cries by Amit Shah at different public programmes.

"The Union Home Minister has a clear idea of what is going on in West Bengal. Now one of our party workers has been killed when the Union Home Minister is in the state and the latter had to rush to the spot curtailing other programmes to meet the family members of the victim. We are confident that he will take the necessary steps," said BJP's national vice president and party MP, Dilip Ghosh.

BJP youth wing leader Arjun Chaurasia died under mysterious circumstances and his body was found hanging on May 6.

--IANS

src/bg