Milk has gold & Amartya Sen is no good — why BJP’s Dilip Ghosh gets away with these & more

Dilip Ghosh joined BJP in 2014 and became Bengal chief in December 2015. He is expected to retain his post when his term ends this year.

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh | Twitter/@DilipGhoshBJP

Kolkata: West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, in news for supporting police brutality on anti-CAA-NRC protesters, is hardly new to controversy. 

The former RSS pracharak has questioned the contributions of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to Bengal and India, and said Indian cows’ milk contains gold.

His latest remarks have drawn criticism from within his party as well, with Union minister Babul Supriyo saying the statement wasn’t the BJP’s stand, but Ghosh has never really been apologetic about his rabble-rousing ways.

According to the election affidavit filed by Ghosh in 2019, he faces 14 criminal cases, all of which he describes as being “politically motivated”. 

Known to lead a Spartan lifestyle, Ghosh is seen as an honest leader whose aggression works for the party against a rival like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 

Speaking to ThePrint, Sangh insiders admitted that Ghosh speaks out of turn at times, but extolled his importance in the same breath. 

Despite rumblings of a coup against him, Ghosh is said to be set for re-election as West Bengal BJP chief when his term ends this week.

Any BJP leader criticising him, said a senior RSS member, would only end up isolating themselves in the party.

Over five years in active politics

Ghosh, 54, comes from tribal Beliabera village in Jhargram, West Midnapore, a Naxalism-hit area. 

He studied in a local school until Class X and then took admission in an industrial training institute in Kolkata. However, he was groomed in shakhas and is an expert in ‘lathi khela’ (stick fight), a Bengali martial art. 

As he grew as the Sangh’s “own”, he started organisational work for the Hindu Jagran Manch, a fringe Hindu fundamentalist group affiliated to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). 

A few years later, he officially joined the Sangh and slowly rose to the rank of pracharak, a role that entailed extensive transfer through Bengal and Andaman. He spent several years in Andaman strengthening the local Sangh organisation. 

Ghosh joined the BJP in 2014 and became Bengal chief president in December 2015. 

He made his election debut with the 2016 West Bengal assembly polls, where he contested and won Congress stronghold Kharagpur Sadar. 

The polls, however, culminated in a sweep for Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which won 212 of Bengal’s 294 seats, with the BJP getting three. 

Over the next three years, under Ghosh, the BJP won multiple byelections and took its tally in the assembly to 14.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Ghosh was elected MP from the Kharagpur seat. His vacated seat was won by the Trinamool Congress in the ensuing bypolls, and the BJP’s tally in the House fell to 13. 

On account of the party’s performance under Ghosh, he was given a year’s extension as state BJP chief.

A watershed for BJP in Bengal

The 2019 Lok Sabha polls were a watershed for the BJP in Bengal as it won 18 of the state’s 42 seats, up from two in 2014.

While many in the BJP feel Ghosh had nothing to do with the win, saying the party had just received “spontaneous anti-Trinamool votes”, the Sangh brass believes otherwise.

“Ghosh is here to stay. There is nobody who can take his position at this stage. What he has been doing for the party has Sangh’s approval,” a senior member of the Sangh’s organisation wing said.  

Asked about his distasteful remarks, the leader added, “People who have seen and known the politics of violence and verbal dual in Bengal will understand that Ghosh is efficient in his work.” 

“He has an appeal among rural voters,” the RSS member said. “How can anybody forget Mamata Banerjee’s role in Bengal and her brand of politics? Is there any civility? So, to counter Mamata’s brand of politics, we need Dilip Ghosh.” 

The RSS member said the alleged rumblings within the BJP against Ghosh meant nothing. “People who are speaking so  openly against the state president are only isolating themselves in the party…”

A member of the BJP’s national executive committee, reluctant to be named, acknowledged his comments are “thoughtless at times” but added that “Dilipda’s speeches and his aggression have given us dividend in rural Bengal”.

“Some of his comments… made us a laughing stock… But at this point, there is no one who can serve the party better,” the leader added. 

Ghosh’s term as president is coming to an end this year, but he is likely to be reappointed in the election due this week, said party insiders, as the state heads for polls next year. 

With his reappointment nearly confirmed, the leader said, “The party needs the Sangh’s approval to take action against Ghosh.”

Ghosh unfazed by criticism

Even by his own record, Ghosh’s comment about those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act was aggressive. 

Speaking at a public meeting in Nadia district Sunday, Ghosh sought to question Mamata’s “inaction” against protesters opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act who allegedly damaged public property. 

Urging punishment, he cited the action taken by governments in BJP-led Assam and Uttar Pradesh, where “anti-CAA protesters were shot like dogs in [BJP-ruled] Assam and UP”.

The criticism was immediate and intense.

Mamata said at a public meeting that BJP leaders “always talk about shooting people”. “They always try to threaten people by saying all this. How can a political leader say that people should be shot dead? This is BJP’s culture, not ours.” 

West Bengal Congress secretary Amitabha Chakraborti echoed the view, saying “Ghosh’s statement is a reflection of his party’s thought process”. 

“They only speak about Gandhi, but never believe in him,” he told ThePrint.

Ghosh, however, is unfazed by the criticism. 

“I said people who damage public and private property the way it was done in Bengal should be shot dead. I said the BJP governments in Assam and Uttar Pradesh did the right thing and if we come to power [in Bengal], we will do the same thing to protect public and private property. The government is answerable for not being able to protect public property,” he said.