When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits West Bengal on Saturday and Sunday, he will find the BJP in the state at its lowest ebb since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party, in turn, is hoping that the visit will help recharge the state unit ahead of the 2016 assembly polls.
“The Prime Minister’s visit is very significant not just for the party cadres but for the people of the state. The steel plant that he is inaugurating is among the oldest and biggest,” Rahul Sinha, state unit president of the BJP told The Hindu . The Prime Minister will inaugurate the refurbished IISCO plant at Burnpur on May 10 which the party is showcasing as an employment generator for youth in the state.
“On May 9, he will launch two universal social security schemes namely Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna from Kolkata. Also being launched on the same day is Atal Pension Yojna assuring monthly pension of Rs. 1,000 up to Rs. 5,000 per month after the age of 60 years,” BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh and state in charge said. The party has pinned its hopes on the social security schemes influencing the Bihar and Bengal assembly elections as well as correcting the pro-corporate image of the government.
The BJP eastern expansion plan has been hit by a number of failures in the recent past in the state. “A poor show in the municipal polls in Bengal last month, dissidence in the ranks and demands for a leadership change,” a senior BJP leader told The Hindu . To add to the party’s problems, the West Bengal unit was unable to touch even the half way mark on the target of One crore new members set by New Delhi. The party finished with 43 lakh members at the end of its ambitious drive that was based just on a missed call to a phone number.
The BJP improved its vote share significantly in 2014 from six per cent in the last Lok Sabha election to nearly 17 per cent, even though it won only two seats. But in the recently concluded civic bodies’ elections, results for which were announced on April 28, the party could not win a single board out of the 92 in the state. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it had led in 26 wards but in 2015, the number came down to seven wards.
A section of local leaders had met Party President Amit Shah in New Delhi in March and sought Mr Sinha’s removal, sources said. After the civic bodies’ results on April 28, Subhas Chandra Sarkar, Vice-President, State Committee, Kisan Morcha, wrote to Mr Shah reiterating the demand. “Day after day, the Modi wave is waning because of a weak leadership,” he said. Mr Sarkar added “the party’s position is dwindling because of outsiders brought in from the TMC and fielded in the assembly by-polls and civic body elections.” Mr Singh however dismissed the charges saying Mr Sarkar was a suspended BJP member “and ought not be taken seriously.”
“The question being asked in the BJP now is whether the civic bodies’ results were a precursor to the Bihar assembly elections. That is a cause of worry,” a senior leader in New Delhi said.
