In the aftermath of the BJP’s defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls, rumbling have started in the West Bengal unit of the party on what is going to be its political line for the run-up to the 2021 Assembly polls.
The remarks made by State BJP president Dilip Ghosh last month, justifying the killing of people by the police in U.P., Assam and Karnataka during the recent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, had drawn criticism from within the party too. BJP ideologue and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta said that the party will have to come up with alternative set of policies for the 2021 polls.
“The biggest issue, according to us, is the misrule of the TMC and what Mamata Banerjee has done in the past ten years. We will also have to tell people what alternatives we have for them,” Mr. Dasgupta said. He was among the leaders who had expressed his disagreement to the remarks made by Mr. Ghosh, a month ago.
Bengal BJP vice-president Chandra Kumar Bose expressed his support to Mr. Dasgupta and said on social media, “BJP4India must have a BengalCentric strategy for WB.A roadmap stating development schemes must be projected [sic].”
“Bengal strategy to reach out to the people with development projects. @BJP4Bengal would bring about a change in the political scenario & encourage positive politics [sic],” the grand nephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose also said.
He added that in politics, there is no scope for violence. “People in West Bengal will not accept this politics where one says we will open fire or kill,’ he said.
Bengal BJP president, meanwhile, said that the party’s central leadership will decide on the party’s strategy for the polls. Mr. Ghosh who has been vocal about his support to the NRC and had on several occasion said that NRC should be implemented in the State, however, blamed the other parties for the “divisions”.
