Tathagata Roy, former governor of Meghalaya, looks to be on the same rebellious path as the present governor of Meghalaya, Satya Pal Malik. Unlike Malik, Roy is a lifetime member of the RSS. And, he has no grudge against the central leadership of the BJP; rather, his ire is against members of the party's Bengal unit.
Today, Roy has indicated that his relation with BJP is over. "I was not writing on Twitter to get applause from people. I was doing this to make the party aware of the fact that some leaders got swayed by women and wealth. Now only results will speak. I will wait for the results of the municipal polls. Farewell, for now, West Bengal BJP!” Roy tweeted.
He has long expressed grievances against Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh, Arvind Menon and Shiv Prakash—the latter being an RSS man and the party's joint general secretary. Roy has been launching tirades against the quartet since the election defeat on May 2. Initially, he was given a patient hearing by the central leadership. B.L. Santosh called him several times to Delhi to address his grievances. Sources say Roy was asked to restrain himself till the party works out a Bengal plan.
A self-proclaimed Modi bhakt, Roy did not criticise Modi or Amit Shah even for a second. But, when J.P. Nadda placed Kailash and Arvind in charge of Bengal, and Ghosh was made the national vice president, he started fuming on social media.
Then, it was the party's turn. A tiff erupted, with both sides threatening and levelling accusations against each other.
Roy found few takers from the central leadership despite repeated calls. Neither Nadda entertained him, as advised by Shah, nor did Santosh. When RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat came to Kolkata this week, Roy was invited to the intellectuals' cell meeting.
Roy did not respond to the requests for response from THE WEEK.
An engineer who took part in shaping the Kolkata metro railway, and a learned right wing intellectual, Roy's exit comes at an inopportune time for the BJP.
