Kolkata: It was never good in taste, leave aside being musical. But, that is how the rebel camp in the West Bengal unit of BJP is trying to hit the party's official hierarchy, including the central leadership.
On January 15, the rebel group led by Union Minister of State for Shipping and BJP Lok Sabha MP from Bongaon Shantanu Thakur met at the Kolkata Port guest house to formally signal the party leadership about their discontent and within 48 hours of that meeting, the group met for a picnic in the Gopalnagar area of Bongaon, Thakur's stronghold, to discuss the camp's next move.
Delving deep into sumptuous non-vegetarian fare, the rebel leaders chalked their next move, amid growing speculations about more party MLAs and leaders expressing their willingness to join the camp. It was from this picnic that Shantanu Thakur said, if the numbers are with the non-melodious team who are not in sync with the current state leadership and yet they are sonorous, then people will surely accept them over the so-called melodious group.
The indications were clear that the rift had only gone deep over the handling of the state unit by the new state president Sukanta Majumdar and state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty. The situation has turned such that Thakur and his group have dropped more than enough indications that Chakraborty was involved in anti-party activities to the extent of keeping regular connection with the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state.
Shantanu is presently getting the open support of Gaighata MLA Subrata Thakur, Bongaon Uttar MLA Ashok Kirtaniya, Krishnaganj MLA Ashis Kumar Biswas and several senior organisational functionaries who have found themselves being dropped from the rejigged state committees. Prominent among them are Joyprakash Majumdar, Sayantan Basu and Ritesh Tiwari.
For the record, Shantanu says, “We want to approach the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister on the Centre's stand on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The All India Matua Mahasangh has over five lakh active members and over 20 lakh general members. We owe them an explanation as around 80 per cent of refugees belong to the Matua sect and they had given us their support. We want clarity from the Centre so that we are in a position to provide an explanation. We are facing a lot of pressure from the people over missed deadlines of formulating the rules that will govern the CAA.”
Posters have already come up across many North Kolkata localities demanding an immediate ouster of Amitava Chakraborty from the party. A separate Twitter handle – save bengal bjp – has also come up where Chakraborty has been castigated for his alleged anti-party activities.
“Amitava Chakraborty is actually facing the wrath of the rebels and many others as he is an organisational person and all this rebel thing started with the announcement of the new state committees last month. But, in actual terms, the arrow points to turncoats in the party or to be more precise towards Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. There is now a clear rift between those who have been associated with Bengal BJP for long and have been doing party work when there is practically no presence of the saffron brigade in the state and those who are hogging the limelight since the Assembly elections. But, repeated defeats since the Assembly elections and a not-so-impressive result in the 2021 Bengal Assembly polls have only lent voice to the already growing murmurs within Bengal BJP,” says a senior political analyst.
Also Read:Bengal BJP's state unit files a complaint against Union Minister Santanu Thakur
The tale doesn't actually end here. The people at the helm the party's state unit have now sent in a missive to the party's central leadership and the word around the BJP state office is, party national president J P Nadda and national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh have been given a list of ten names, including that of Shantanu Thakur, and have been told that these leaders were trying to harm the party's prospects in the state. The Amitava Chakraborty camp is saying since the BJP central leadership is busy with the Assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh and four other states, a decision on the rift will be taken after those polls.
Keeping in mind the results of the Assembly elections in five states including Uttar Pradesh, the central leadership of the saffron camp has decided to put its decision on the West Bengal rebel leaders on hold till the polls for these five states are over and results are announced.
A BJP source said that a telephone call has come from the office of BJP's national president, JP Nadda to the party MP and Union Minister of State for Shipping, Shantanu Thakur, who is virtually heading the rebel group. In the telephone call Thakur has been asked to maintain silence till March since after the elections for five states are over and results announced the party high command will give him a patient hearing.
At the same time, the party high command, after March will also examine the complaints received by them against the rebel leaders. Already a senior member of the current state committee has sent a list of rebel leaders to the party high command.
Till then, all eyes will closely watch the rebel camp in the saffron brigade of Bengal, which has already claimed to enjoy the support of at least 30 party MLAs and 15 Mps. The call could eventually be a close one for BJP.
