Mamata Banerjee has divided the BJP. All it took was a temple inauguration and Dilip Ghosh

Mamata Banerjee has learnt the rule of the game: There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics.

Mamata Banerjee with Dilip Ghosh on the day of the Jagannath temple inauguration, at Digha | ANI

Mamata Banerjee could teach Dale Carnegie a thing or two. In one fell swoop, she has made friends with her most bitter political rival, Dilip Ghosh, and set the cat among the pigeons in his party, the BJP. She could even tweak the title of Carnegie’s best seller to How to Win Friends, Influence People and Demolish Rivals.

The tete-a-tete between the West Bengal chief minister and the former president of the state unit of the BJP in the coastal town of Digha at the new Puri Jagannath Temple lookalike has triggered a tsunami of outrage in the BJP camp. Blows have been exchanged between Ghosh loyalists in the party and those who have now painted him as a Trojan horse and as a greater betrayer.

The BJP’s central leadership reportedly sent out word to zip up but there is no stopping the acrimony within the state unit of the party, riven already with factional tensions. The air is thick with the buzz that Ghosh, in the season of new beginnings – he got married two weeks ago – could even join the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Ghosh has said that’s simply not possible. But the bottom-line is, barring a miraculous political recovery in the coming months, Mamata has decisively destroyed any chance of the BJP putting up a united fight against her in 2026.

Fish fry friendships

This is not the first time Mamata Banerjee has deployed such a political manoeuvre. Back in 2014, Mamata Banerjee had caused several red faces in the Left Front when she invited the CPI (M) leader Biman Bose to her office at the state secretariat, Nabanna, for tea and fish fry. Biman Bose accepted the invitation.

“Surrender” is how the meeting was labelled by some. Others called it a trap. More than one Left leader had warned the ‘chai pe charcha’ would further demoralise Left workers, already battered by the end of the Left regime in the state in 2011 and a dismal performance by the Left in the 2014 parliamentary elections.

History seems to be repeating itself.

Invitations to the 30 April inauguration at Digha were sent to Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of Oppostion. The latter raised a series of questions about the event. In a letter to the state’s chief secretary, he sought clarity on whether the complex being opened was a cultural centre or a temple, questioning how the Mamata Banerjee government could be involved in building a temple. It was clear he was not going to attend the function.

Till the last minute, even Dilip Ghosh’s attendance was uncertain. Apparently, Mamata Banerjee was about to leave Digha and head back to Kolkata to oversee operations at the site of the tragic incident of a fire at a hotel that killed 14 people when news of Ghosh’s arrival came. She had to double back to the temple complex to greet him and his wife.

And she did not let the opportunity pass. On her very own Facebook page, the meeting was beamed out live for 10 minutes for the all the world to see: Mamata seated on a sofa, on an adjoining sofa, Ghosh and his wife, all having a friendly chat. In the 10 minutes that the meeting continued off camera, it is not known if fish fry was offered or sweets or tea. But the damage was done.

The BJP’s state chief, Sukanta Majumdar, put the record straight. “It was decided no one from the party would visit (Digha), particularly on the day of the inauguration. Dilip Ghosh may have gone in a personal capacity, but the party does not endorse it.”

Suvendu Adhikar was furious but circumspect. But other leaders unleashed a torrent of abuse at Ghosh, sometimes bordering on the personal.

Mamata Banerjee had clearly put another classic political strategy into play: divide and rule.

Last laugh

Fact is, under Ghosh’s leadership as state president, the BJP got its best ever results in West Bengal in 2019 and 2021 elections: 18 MPs and 77 MLAs respectively. Flaunting that, Ghosh unleashed a no-holds-barred fight back at the current dispensation at the helm of the party for failing to match his performance, leave alone better it. “Why are MLAs and MPs leaving the BJP,” he asked. Several MPs and MLAs have quit the BJP since the 2021 elections.
How the BJP’s central leadership tackles this crisis will be crucial to the health of the party in the 2026 elections in the state. For now, the last laugh is Mamata Banerjee’s. She has learnt well the rule of the game: There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. Even Ghosh, the BJP leader who has in the past attacked her in the vilest of terms, is kosher.

Monideepa Banerjie is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. She tweets @Monideepa62. Views are personal.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)