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Will meet the prime minister to know whether I am needed

Interview/ Chandra Bose, BJP leader and grand-nephew of Subhas Chandra Bose

Q/You were dropped as BJP vice president in West Bengal.

A/I am not at all sad about it. There was no job for me as a vice president. But what made me upset was no one from Delhi called me to inform about it. Today, I am thinking of 2016, when I used to get a series of calls from the central leadership for joining the party and fighting elections.

Q/Were you reluctant to join the BJP?

A/I was, in fact, not ready, and my family told me such ideology will not fit with the legacy of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Q/But you went against the family guidance?

A/Yes, that is only because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He loves and respects our family.

Q/Did you expect a call from him before being ousted?

A/No. He is very busy. I expected a call from someone in the leadership. I am going to meet the prime minister, to know whether I am needed or not. If not, then I will have the liberty to decide my future course of action.

Q/Any plans to join the Trinamool Congress?

A/I am still with the BJP, and would remain so as long as the prime minister wishes. If he does not, then I would support anybody who has Netaji’s inclusive ideology.

Q/The state leadership says you did not perform well.

A/To perform, one needs to be tested. I was given the most difficult seats, which were either against [Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee or to fight Lok Sabha election in her own constituency. I tried my best. You cannot win an election against Mamata Banerjee without organisation [machinery]. The BJP has no organisation in Kolkata.

Q/You were vocal against the Citizenship Amendment Act and mob lynching.

A/Yes, I was. Our family could not accept such a legislation. But I feel that was not the only reason [for the ousting].

Q/What else?

A/When then party president Amit Shah came and invited me to the BJP personally, I realised that BJP has a dearth of intellectuals in Kolkata. I proposed to him that I would like to open a morcha in the BJP named Azad Hind to propagate Netaji’s ideology. He said he would consider. But after some months, when I reminded him, he told me I should take charge of one of the existing morchas in the party.

Q/You then turned disillusioned.

A/Yes. My family said I committed a blunder by joining the BJP. They said I should have known that the BJP’s way of winning elections is through polarisation.

Q/You also believed the same?

A/Not really, because I had full faith in prime minister. But somewhere down the line, I felt my family members have a point.

Q/State leaders say they cannot include any person just because he hails from a famous family.

A/I never played up my family background. I only played up my family ideology of nationalism, secularism and inclusiveness.

Q/Do you feel the current state committee can win the elections in 2021?

A/I cannot say. But I have lot of respect for some of the people who have been taken.