Bengal BJP to invoke Durga as 'Ram politics' falls short of being vote magnet

Bengal BJP leaders have been grumbling for long that the party’s Ram-centric Hindutva drive is not appealing to voters in the state.

They have been pointing out that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been successful in giving the communal binary an intra-religious spin, pitting local presiding deity Durga against Ram, one of the most popular among Hindu pantheons in the Hindi heartland.

To counter the TMC narrative in the 2024 general elections, the BJP has been reportedly advised by its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to do what Hinduism has been doing to make foray into newer territories for ages — co-option.

This was conveyed after senior state BJP leaders were summoned by the Sangh for a meeting with its senior leaders at its Delhi office in Jhandewalan last week.

Also read: BJP looking for alternative to ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Bengal, other eastern states

While RSS leaders Arun Kumar and Pradip Joshi were among those who represented the Sangh, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, and state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty represented the state unit.

The Bengal leaders have been asked to take the lead in the annual Durga Puja celebrations in their localities just as the TMC leaders do, sources in the BJP said.

Puja politics

Most of the big community pujas in Kolkata and elsewhere in the state are organised by top TMC leaders. Besides, the party government also provides financial aid to Durga Puja organising clubs. Last year, the grant amount was Rs 60,000 per club. It was given to over 40,000 registered Durga Puja committees across the state.

The BJP did try to compete with the TMC in the Puja politics ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. It started organising Durga Puja under the party banner at Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Kolkata from 2020. But it did not get much traction in the three consecutive years that the party organised it.

After last year’s celebrations, state BJP chief Majumdar had told the media that the party will not continue the event, as it has already organised it for three years. Once started, a Durga Puja must be organised for at least three consecutive years, say the ritualistic rules.

Also read: From Jai Shri Ram to Hanuman Chalisa: The evolving Hindutva tool-kit

“There is a rethink in the party about suspending the EZCC puja after the Sangh’s recommendations. But instead of focusing on organising only one puja, the party leaders will be associated with the puja committees in a big way across the state. Senior BJP central leaders will be invited to inaugurate the puja pandals,” a leader of the BJP’s cultural cell said.

More importantly, the BJP and Sangh volunteers will work in tandem to weave a collective Hindutva narrative centred around both Durga and Ram, according to BJP insiders.

Time to read Krittibas Ramayana

That the party’s Hindutva push needed to be aligned with the local deities and traditions was discussed at the meeting of 12 eastern and north-eastern state units held in Guwahati in the first week of July.

For the interplay, the BJP-RSS’s ready reference in Bengal will be the Bengali version of the Ramayana composed by the 15th-century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha.

Deviating from Valmiki’s Ramayana, Ojha created a story of Ram untimely invoking Durga before going to battle with Ravana to connect Bengali Shaktas (Shakti worshippers) with Ram, one of the avatars of Vishnu, as per the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism.

Ojha’s text was inspired by the concept of Bhakti that contributed to the emergence of Vaishnavism in Bengal.

Also read: Bengal: Weaponising Ram Navami to suit politics of right wing

Awareness yatras

To intertwine the two deities from two different traditions of Hinduism, the state BJP has been asked that apart from participating in Durga Puja celebration, it should go for a campaign blitzkrieg highlighting the party’s contribution to building the Ram temple in Ayodhya, sources said.

As part of the road map given to it, the BJP state unit will have to organise awareness yatras from October to “build a momentum” ahead of the likely inauguration of Ram temple in Ayodhya in January.

In the Delhi meeting, it was further decided that the RSS and the BJP should work together more closely in the state.

The Sangh will hold an organisational meeting-cum-training in Kolkata in mid-August, to prepare for the next year’s elections, said a state RSS leader Biplab Roy.