Bengal BJP’s new campaign puts Dilip Ghosh in direct ‘contest’ against CM Mamata

The new campaign — Dilip da against corruption — is part of the BJP’s larger campaign of ‘Bengal against corruption’ ahead of the state polls due in 2021.

File photo of West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh | ANI

New Delhi: Ahead of the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, the state BJP seems to be positioning state president Dilip Ghosh as its chief ministerial face against Mamata Banerjee.

In response to election strategist Prashant Kishore’s ‘Didi ke Bolo [Tell Didi (Mamata)]’ initiative, Bengal BJP Wednesday launched a massive outreach programme called ‘Durnitir biruddhe Dilip da (Dilip da against corruption)’. The outreach programme is part of the BJP’s larger campaign of ‘Bengal against corruption’, party sources said.

The campaign video focuses on the word ‘Satatar Pratik (symbol of honesty)’, which the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had earlier used in election cutouts and billboards carrying Banerjee’s image.

The party has also launched a helpline and an email ID for people to register any case of corruption against the ruling dispensation.

Speaking to ThePrint, Ghosh said: “West Bengal is epitome of corruption and the chief minister herself instructed party workers to return cut money they have taken from poor people in return for benefit of government schemes.”

He added, “Even during Covid, corruption cases didn’t go down. Food grains did not reach godowns for distribution, but they reached the market for sale. We are asking people to register cases of corruption so that we can build pressure on officials to act.” 

Ghosh said corruption and law and order will be the two big issues in Bengal elections.

“We are asking people to be part of poribortan (change),” he added.

Interestingly, in 2011, it was the promise of ‘poribortan’ that helped Mamata Banerjee unseat the Left and come to power. 

‘Complaints of corruption will be sent to Delhi’

In March, the state BJP launched a campaign, ‘Aar Noy Anayay (No More Injustice)’, against Banerjee’s ‘Didi k Bolo’ initiative.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while participating in a public rally in March, had asked people to reply to ‘Didi ki bolo’ campaign by saying ‘Aar Noy Anayay’.

The programme aimed to connect with 5 crore voters in the next six months and it was well received in the state, said party leaders.

The latest campaign is part of the party’s strategy to position Ghosh as the face against Mamata, though the party has not decided its CM face yet, said a BJP source.

Talking about the campaign, Ghosh said: “The decision to launch a toll free number was taken during a meeting with the central leadership (earlier this month) where strategy for the state assembly election was discussed.”

He added, “There is large scale loot in distribution of compensation to those whose houses were damaged in Cyclone Amphan in May, but the administration was a mute spectator. Several protests happened in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia and Howrah (in this connection). We are registering these complaints of corruption and it will be sent to Delhi,” he added.

Ghosh’s personal campaign?

A few party leaders have, however, expressed concern over Ghosh trying to manage his own image through the party’s campaign.

A party vice-president said: “The fight against corruption is the party programme, and not any individual’s programme, and the message should go that it is a party programme. Dilip da is party president and he has every right to launch party campaigns and programmes for the benefit of the party, but the message should not go across that it is his personal programme.”

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha, however, said: “It is a personal programme of Dilip da as the programme is centred around him. But, of course, the party will benefit out of it.”

Tug of war between leaders 

After its spectacular victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP managed to win 18 seats, increasing its tally from two in 2014, the party in January this year re-elected Ghosh to lead the unit in Bengal. He has been heading the party in Bengal since 2015. 

Ghosh’s aggressive nationalist attitude, RSS training to build grassroots structure have helped the party achieve 40 per cent vote share in 2019 — up from 17 per cent in 2014, and one crore members, said the BJP source.

He is a natural claimant for the top post if the BJP decides to fight the elections by announcing its CM face, added the source.

Also, the Centre’s effort to promote party leaders Rupa Ganguly and Rahul Sinha has not yielded any desired results, the source said.

Ghosh’s reappointment, however, didn’t go down well with some party leaders, with one of them being Mukul Roy.

Last week, Bengal BJP in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya had to rush suddenly from Indore to Kolkata to placate a sulking Roy, party sources said.

After Ghosh’s reappointment as the state BJP chief in January, Roy has been sulking as he is virtually without any work, they added.

Once a close lieutenant of Banerjee, Roy was crucial for BJP to make switchover of several TMC MPs, MLAs to the BJP.

“His patience is running out. Vijayvargiya has suggested him to wait for a few more times. He has communicated his grievances to Amit Shah already in June,” said the party source. 

Meanwhile, Tathagata Roy, 74, who was recently relieved from his position as the Meghalaya governor, has also expressed willingness to return to the BJP and has said he is ready to take any role the party decides for him.

Besides Ghosh, Mukul Roy and Tathagata Roy, Union minister Babul Supriyo is also one of the claimants to the top post, said party sources.

Supriyo has several times shown disagreement with Ghosh’s strategy to win the state, they added.

Such disagreement with Ghosh’s strategy also came to light following the party’s defeat in Delhi elections earlier this year.

While BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta had said ideological issues must be supplemented by governance agenda, Ghosh had said the party needed to stick to its ideological issues.