Rumblings of discontent have grown louder in West Bengal BJP after the party suspended two of its senior leaders and former vice presidents Jaiprakash Majumdar and Ritesh Tiwari. Majumdar came to the BJP from the Congress in 2014 while Tiwari is a former ABVP activist. Neither of them, however, has fought any assembly elections.
Interestingly, they were first issued a show cause notice apparently because they were seen accompanying Union minister and Matua leader Shantanu Thakur during a meeting held by the minister at Gobardanga. Thakur had been taking potshots at party general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty—without taking his name—accusing him of acting as a dictator in the state unit.
The Union minister had also alleged that there was no representation for Matua community in the recently set up committees of the state BJP.
State BJP president and MP Sukanta Majumdar, however, chose not to issue a show cause notice to Thakur as he represents a powerful community in the state, but suspended both Majumdar and Tiwari. The two leaders lashed out at the leadership after their suspension as if they are waiting for a possible dismissal from the party.
A senior party leader and MLA told THE WEEK that several old timers are angry with the party for being ignored.
“Leaders like Pratap Banerjee, Biswapriya Roy Chowdhury, Raju Banerjee and Sayantan Basu have been toiling hard for the party for long. But they were dropped unnecessarily and new faces like fashion designer Agnimitra Paul brought to the top. These leaders may have won election, but those who were dropped have the experience. The fact is that they (young leaders) might make mistakes, but they could improve themselves with proper guidance of the party. But what is the party doing, at the instance of the RSS? This would push the party towards a split,” he said.
The angry leaders have blamed the RSS for appointing Chakraborty as the general secretary (organisation) in the state unit, saying he was directly being guided by national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh.
They are now turning towards the central leadership, seeking an appointment with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda. However, neither Shah nor Nadda has given a patient hearing to the state leaders except for Suvendu Adhikari and Dilip Ghosh. None of the state in-charge leaders—Kailash Vijayvargiya, Arvind Menon or Amit Malviya—is giving time to address the state party affairs.
Sources said the central BJP favoured certain harsh steps as it sees some leaders responsible for the party not coming to power in West Bengal in the last elections.
“All our surveys showed that the party was coming to power in Bengal. We have identified that because of inefficiency and mistakes and ill-intentions of a few leaders, we had to face defeat. They would have to pay a price for it,” said a central BJP leader.
A state in-charge leader said the party would look into the issues in Bengal once the Uttar Pradesh elections are over. “We are extremely busy with the UP election. We will sort out all differences in the party after the UP election. You will see a new Bengal and a new BJP,” he said.
But the MLA said, “That might be too late.”