New Delhi: The Modi government is not keen on imposing President’s rule in West Bengal but wants the political violence to end, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Wednesday, amid the stand-off between the state BJP unit and the Mamata Banerjee government.
“We are not in favour of imposing President’s rule or carrying out any intervention to bring down an elected government but violence should be contained as there is complete chaos in the state,” Naqvi told ThePrint.
Another BJP leader, who did not want to be named, said there is a view within the party that if President’s rule is imposed, it will work in favour of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who may use it to portray “herself as the victim”.
This, the leader said, may affect the party’s prospects in the assembly elections due in 2021.
A source in the BJP, however, said that not everyone in the party is against the imposition of President’s rule in the state.
“West Bengal chief minister has been turning a blind eye to the murders of BJP workers and volunteers. There’s complete chaos in the state. It’s an emergency-like situation,” the source said.
“The state unit has been pressing for concrete action to be taken against the West Bengal government. The state unit has already carried out demonstrations and dharnas and apprised the home minister about it too.”
On Wednesday, the West Bengal BJP unit held demonstrations and protests across the state to highlight the alleged murders of BJP workers, allegedly at the behest of the Trinamool Congress, especially after the Lok Sabha elections.
Also read: BJP plans Wednesday protest against Mamata & Trinamool ‘atrocities’
BJP adopting a two-pronged strategy
The BJP government is adopting a two-pronged approach to tackle West Bengal issue — it has got the home ministry to put pressure on the Mamata government to ensure that the state bureaucracy acts in an impartial manner while the state party unit is keeping TMC on its toes by carrying out political protests.
Another senior BJP leader said the state unit has been continuously communicating with the home ministry and listing out the “atrocities meted out to BJP workers”.
“The central BJP leadership has already told the state unit to start preparing for the assembly elections,” the leader said. “They have assured them that the Centre will help them contain the violence that has become synonymous with Bengal. But they have also been told the matter of whether President rule should be imposed or not is the domain of the Governor and they should not worry about that.”
Also read: How BJP managed its stunning capture of West Bengal
The honorable route to any State secretariat in India lies through a free and fair election, of the sort that gave the TMC 23, the BJP 18 seats last month. No one has made Black Forest cake of Article 356 the way Mrs Gandhi did. After the Janata government succeeded her in 1977, there was serious talk of scrapping the provision that allows the Centre to dismiss an elected state government and impose President’s rule. There have been a few aberrations since then, sometimes courts have felt constrained to intervene, but by and large, the misuse of this provision has ended. Two years remain for the next Assembly election. Both sides can prepare for a good, clean fight, lower the temperature in the meantime.