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

The BJP is facing a strange dilemma in the east, particularly in Bengal. Its most potent political slogan Jai Shri Ram, meaning victory to Lord Ram, is not resonating with voters in most of the eastern states barring Bihar and Jharkhand.

This inference was made when BJP leaders from 12 eastern and northeastern states met in Guwahati on Thursday to discuss the party’s likely strategy in the region for the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

These states account for 142 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP pocketed 68 of these seats in the last general elections. The target this time is to secure victory in at least 75 per cent of these constituencies, said a BJP leader from Assam who attended the closed-door meeting.

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Among the Hindus of these mostly non-Hindi speaking states, Rama is not a very popular deity. For instance, Jagannath is the supreme god in Odisha. The presiding deities in Bengal and Tripura are Durga and Kali. Krishna is the domineering divinity among Vaishnavite Hindus of Manipur and Assam.

Bengal sentiments

The biggest concern for the BJP over its catchphrase is that its Rama push even proved counterproductive in Bengal. The Trinamool Congress has successfully countered it by stoking Bengali sub-nationalism centering around Durga.

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During the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and again in the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP used the Jai Shri Ram slogan as a political tool to attack TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for her alleged preferential treatment to Muslims.

The slogan was hurled at her even at an official function attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Often the party lined up its supporters along the route of the TMC leader’s convoy to shout the slogan to tease her.

To get back at the BJP, the TMC coined Jai Maa Durga and Jai Maa Kali during the last assembly elections. This was to appeal to Bengali Hindus as well as to portray the BJP as a party of Hindus from the cow belt.

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Since its drubbing in the assembly elections, there has been a realisation in the BJP that its Rama-centric Hindu card has limited appeal in Bengal and hence it needs to rethink its strategy to win the heart of Bengali Hindus.

Rama or Durga?

BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra pointed out in the meeting the need for finding an alternative slogan to appeal to Hindus of the state, informed sources said.

He reportedly suggested that since Durga and Kali are more revered in the state, the party’s slogan should be linked to these deities.

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“If Jai Shri Ram is to be used at all, it should be alongside the slogans such as Jai Ma Durga or Kali,” Hazra reportedly told the meeting.

BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh, who presided over the meeting, took note of the suggestion.

The meeting did not arrive at any conclusion as no top BJP leader from Bengal, apart from Hazra, could attend the meeting due to their engagement in electioneering for the panchayat elections.

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BJP Bengal in-charges Sunil Bansal and Mangal Pandey, however, were present.