In order to keep its total grip over the Bengal BJP, the RSS has brought back former BJP West Bengal general secretary Subrata Chattopadhyay as the chief of the RSS's eastern region.
Chattopadhyay, a stunch opponent of TMC leaders joining BJP, was ousted as BJP general secretary of Bengal unit last year. He was replaced by Shah loyalist Amitava Chakraborty. Chattopadhyay is known to be close to BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh.
Chattopadhyay was credited with building the party in West Bengal, along with Ghosh. The duo delivered a scintillating victory for the party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections by bagging 18 seats.
Ahead of the assembly elections, Chattopadhyay raised his voice against the mass inflow of TMC leaders into BJP. He even drew the attention of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, which created ripples within the party. His logic was that the party and RSS's moral stand over corruption would be compromised.
While the Amit Shah-J.P. Nadda combine justified the induction of those leaders into BJP as "political necessity", Chattopadhyay reported this as "suicidal" for the saffron party. Ghosh also supported Chattopadhyay.
The tussle reached such a stage that Bhagwat had to intervene as he made several trips to Bengal to ease coordination between the BJP and RSS. While Ghosh was convinced by Shah and Nadda, Chattopadhyay remained firm on his position. Bhagwat was then forced to recall Chattopadhyay to the RSS.
The debacle faced by the party in the polls made BJP hardliners like Ghosh convince RSS that what he and Chattopadhyay were reporting was true, and TMC defectors would have little impact for the BJP in the state. As Ghosh's tenure was supposed to end, BJP's central leadership replaced him with a Ghosh loyalist, Sukanta Majumder, a north Bengal university professor and former RSS man.
Now, with Chattopadhyay's elevation as RSS's eastern region chief, the RSS will take total control of the party's expansion in Bengal. Chattopadhyay would now have a major say in the party's coordination with the RSS in Bengal.
With Ghosh being made national vice president, state BJP president being a Ghosh loyalist and Ghosh's friend Chattopadhyay the eastern region chief of the RSS, party insiders feel that most of the TMC defectors will now be isolated, unless they are as powerful as Suvendu Adhikari who has direct access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Known as extremely honest and a hardliner, Chattopadhyay will now rebuild the RSS organisation from top to bottom, with an aim to make it vibrant ahead of the 2024 elections.
The RSS recently divided its organisation in Bengal into three parts. Chattopadhyay will now coordinate all three segments and make RSS and its affiliated organisations, which were disgruntled in 2021, more loyal to the BJP.
