Mamata Banerjee is deeply entangled in the Kolkata rape-murder case. She is facing embarrassment from all sides. From the Calcutta High Court to the Supreme Court, the rape of a trainee doctor in a medical college and then the murder followed by a mob attack – this entire episode has put the police and administrative machinery of West Bengal in the dock.
Although for about ten years, but for the last five years, BJP has been after Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee with full intensity. In the 2019 general elections, BJP got a chance to gain a foothold in Bengal, in the 2021 assembly elections, BJP had made all the arrangements to play the game according to its own will by bringing Mamata Banerjee’s very special leader Shubhendu Adhikari to its side, but it failed, and similarly, there was an intention to do something big in the Lok Sabha elections on the pretext of Sandeshkhali, which remained unfulfilled.
But now BJP has come to its senses. It is not repeating the political mistake of Sandeshkhali in the Kolkata rape-murder case. The BJP leadership has left Bengal politics in the hands of Bengal leaders – and even without making a hue and cry, BJP has caused a lot of damage to Mamata Banerjee.
Now BJP workers are taking to the streets to get justice for the trainee doctor in the Kolkata rape-murder case – and this campaign to get justice is going to last for five days.
First of all, being in power at the centre, BJP has a great opportunity to damage Mamata Banerjee’s politics, but it seems that BJP has changed its strategy. BJP is actually giving Mamata Banerjee’s politics a chance to get exposed. Anyway, Mamata Banerjee is being continuously humiliated without BJP doing anything special – and this is such an opportunity for BJP to field any local leader against Mamata Banerjee.
The opportunity is there, provided BJP wants to take advantage of it!
BJP has a great opportunity to form a front against Mamata Banerjee. If BJP wants, it can put pressure on the central government to impose President’s rule in West Bengal, however, there is no such indication so far.
Certainly, West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose has reached Delhi. He must have met President Draupadi Murmu and informed her about the situation after the Kolkata rape-murder case. He has also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and must have given his report about the current situation.
Of course, the law and order of a state cannot be evaluated on the basis of a single incident, but the manner in which the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the Kolkata rape-murder case, and the questions it has raised on the functioning of the government machinery by keeping the entire matter at the centre, are certainly effective political weapons for the BJP.
Whatever discussions Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his team may be having on the situation in Bengal, the BJP has already started its political campaign – and just like there was a demand for bringing a law to build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, on the same lines, a demand for President’s rule can also be raised.
Even if the central government has no such intention, the BJP, which has hit the streets, can still run its own narrative against Mamata Banerjee – now it depends on the ability of BJP leaders and advisors to what extent they are successful in their mission against Mamata Banerjee?
What path is BJP currently on in Bengal?
Earlier, Sandeshkhali was also a big issue against Mamata Banerjee – but if we look at the results, it seems that despite all the pomp and show, the BJP people fell flat on their face.
The issue of Sandeshkhali, which BJP made the biggest issue during the entire Lok Sabha election campaign, was found to have fizzled out long ago when the election results came. The Trinamool Congress candidate had also won the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat by a huge margin – it cannot be said to be like UP, but BJP also got results contrary to expectations from West Bengal. Claims were being made by senior BJP leaders to win 25 seats in West Bengal, but BJP was reduced to just 12 seats, i.e. 2019.
This time BJP has got six seats less than last time.
In the same West Bengal from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed to win the maximum number of seats, the West Bengal from where all the top BJP leaders had boasted of winning more than 25 seats, the BJP has been reduced to just 12 seats in that West Bengal.
How much BJP expects from Sandeshkhali can be understood from the fact that Rekha Patra, the victim of the case, was made the candidate. BJP leader Shubhendu Adhikari was the political escort for Rekha Patra.
All this is telling that the BJP advisors sitting in Delhi were making a mistake in understanding West Bengal. The North Indian strategists of BJP sitting in Delhi were not able to understand the Bengali mentality in favor of Mamata Banerjee properly – albeit late, but now it definitely seems that slowly they too have started learning a lesson.
BJP is in dire need of an ‘Adhir Ranjan’
BJP has not been able to find any leader to compete with Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar, the same has happened in the case of Mamata Banerjee. Before the 2021 elections, BJP considered Shubhendu Adhikari a big fish, but he too has not been able to show any special feat. He too has become another Mukul Roy. In Bengal, BJP has been trying everyone from Dilip Ghosh to Sukanto Majumdar one after the other, but the search is not complete yet.
So far, BJP has looked for Vibhishan within Trinamool Congress to damage Mamata Banerjee’s politics. This strategy may work in some places, but it is not working at all in West Bengal – in such a situation, BJP should put such a leader on the front who is ready to fight Mamata Banerjee from the heart.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is one such name in West Bengal politics who has been sidelined by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and by raising questions on Rahul Gandhi’s statement on the Kolkata rape-murder case, Adhir Ranjan has also made his intentions clear – has the BJP started testing Adhir Ranjan?
