West Bengal: BJP on lookout for foot soldiers; to increase membership base

Thirty-six years after it started its West Bengal chapter the BJP was able to open its account in the state’s Assembly, although on a minuscule scale.

The party was able to send three legislators to the 294-seat legislature, its best tally since 1952, when its previous incarnation, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, won nine seats in the Assembly elections.

However, despite years of its presence and mounting protest rallies, which often turn out to be violent, the party hasn’t been able to dig deeper.

Dilip Ghosh, the party’s state president, says that while the BJP has been riding high on the agenda put forward by central leaders such as Narendra Modi, there was a lack of able leadership in West Bengal, both at the top as well as the grassroots level — the primary cause of its poor showing till now.

In the last Assembly elections, following the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC’s) strategy, the party resorted to roping in local celebrities to increase its mass appeal and win seats. 

However, Ghosh now feels it needs to recruit grassroots leaders. “We need to have leaders at local level who can connect with the people,” the BJP leader felt. Based on this premise, the party contacted former TMC MLA Manju Basu and declared her its candidate from Noapara in the upcoming Assembly byelection. However, it proved to be a face loss for the party as Basu not only backed out, she clarified that her “loyalty remained with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee”, and clarified the she “never consented to contest on the BJP ticket”.

Sources in the BJP said her name was recommended by former TMC leader Mukul Roy, who recently switched to the BJP. Roy had presumed that Basu, who once belonged to the Roy faction, would be willing to switch sides but underestimated the “obvious pressure on Basu” which the TMC would build up.

As the party prepares for the by-elections and the upcoming panchayat polls, Ghosh is keen to increase the party’s membership base as well as poach career-oriented local-level leaders who have a substantial fan following.

A politician said during the 2011 Assembly elections, the TMC won because local leaders affiliated to the CPI(M) deserted the party. “The BJP needs to work on something of this sort. It is clear that a national agenda and superficial visits by national leaders won’t help the party gain a strong foothold in West Bengal,” the politician said.

A Leftist leader said it was important for any political party to have a “grassroots connect” and understand and address local problems. “This way people start believing in the party. Once a party loses this connect with the people or fails to build it up, there is going to be imminent failure,” the Leftist leader opined.

The BJP had resorted to this strategy too. During a visit of BJP President Amit Shah to the state in April last year, he went to a slum in Chetla, a TMC bastion which is just a few kilometres from the residence of Banerjee. He even took his mid-day meal at a slum-dweller's house. However, the episode was forgotten the next time he visited the city and not even a courtesy call was done to the Chetla slum.

“There is also an issue of trust. Earlier people weren’t able to trust us but now it is changing as has been reflected in our growing vote share. But we need to build on this trust,” Ghosh said.

Despite their bid for power, BJP leaders know it will not be possible in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Of the 90.32 million people in the state, its support is limited to around 4.3 million, of whom active members would be around 40 per cent. On the contrary, the TMC commands 45 per cent of the votes, the Left Front 26 per cent, and the Congress 12 per cent.

The priority for the BJP is to emerge as a formidable opposition party not just in the Kolkata-Howrah-Hooghly belt, but across the state, recruit local influencers, and come up with an alternative growth plan.

A section of BJP leaders says the party needs to project what it can do for the state. To increase its membership, the party recruited Roy, who has a fan-following in the Kachrapara-Noapara area but BJP leaders say the results of recruiting Roy will show in the next three-four years.