In Mamata’s Bengal, BJP cuts a sorry figure, leaning heavily on RSS

Former Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh was recently appalled by the state of party organisation in the Bardhaman–Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency.

He was interacting with the outfit’s block-level leaders to devise his campaign plan in the constituency he has been forced to contest after being shunted out from Medinipur, the seat he won in 2019.

The party does not have a committee in most booths there. A vividly upset Ghosh, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak-turned politician, promptly roped in his parent organisation to plug the gap.

Manning of booths

The BJP units in almost all the seven Assembly segments in the constituency are now manned by Sangh apparatchiks.

This is not just a one-off case, said a close aide of Ghosh, pointing out that the party has failed to form committees in about 30 per cent of the state’s 80,530 booths.

As a result, he said, the party is failing to adequately convey its messages to the people, particularly in rural Bengal, missing out on the political mileage it could garner from multiple corruption cases the ruling Trinamool Congress is battling.

Modi learns reality

A lower rung BJP functionary from Malda district, during a virtual interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, clearly told him that the BJP was losing the perception battle.

Modi reportedly wanted to know from the party’s grassroots functionaries whether the corruption charges against the leaders of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress were resonating with rural voters.

Subhankar Saha, the worker from Malda, replied in the negative, saying the people of the state were more or less convinced that the BJP-led government at the Centre was depriving the state by not releasing to it funds meant for the Centrally-sponsored welfare schemes.

TMC network

The TMC has used its formidable organisational machinery to launch a campaign blitzkrieg to project BJP as Bangla Birodhi ('apathetic to Bengal').

The party's catch phrase this time is “Jonogoner gorjon, Bangla Birodhider Bisorjonr.” It means the ouster of anti-Bengal forces (a clear reference to BJP) is the collective roar of the people.

Modi, during the virtual interactions, told the party workers to clear the misgivings on fund freeze by intensifying door-to-door campaigns to tell people that funds were withheld on the grounds of corruption and non-submission of accounts.

Failing propaganda

Many BJP leaders mutter under their breath what Saha boldly told Modi. They rue that even recent incidents in Sandeshkhali have remained largely a localised issue despite the party leadership’s best effort to scale it up to a state-wide mass movement. TMC strongmen are accused of land grab and sexual harassment of women in Sandeshkhali.

The party is also finding it difficult to hard-sell another of its electoral planks in Bengal, the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.

The BJP sources said the party was not able to reach out to the people in many rural areas owing to the absence of an organisation.

Weakened BJP

The party has significantly lost its ground after its defeat in the 2021 Assembly elections. Many workers have either joined the TMC or become dormant. Many party old-timers too have distanced themselves from party activities because of the prominence given to turncoats.

The BJP Bachao Mancha or Save BJP Forum floated by a section of party old guards has openly protested against candidate selection in several seats.

The party’s vote share dipped to 22.88 per cent, a sharp decline from about 38 per cent votes it secured in the 2021 Assembly polls.

RSS role

To make up for its organisational weakness, the BJP is now heavily depending on its ideological fountainhead the RSS just as Gosh is doing in his constituency.

The Sangh has deployed its cadres in booths and blocks where the BJP’s organisation is weak, preparing roadmaps of the party's grassroots campaigns to the extent of deciding key talking points. It's also persuading sulking party workers to get active again.

In parallel to raking up political issues and Modi government’s achievements through power-point presentations, street-corner meetings and door-to-door campaigns, the RSS has also lined up religious and cultural events to tickle the religious sensitivity of the voters.

Religious mobilization

As part of it, the Sangh and its affiliated organisations have decided to celebrate in a big way the Hindu New Year on the first day of Chaitra Navratri that falls on April 9 this year.

According to Hindu beliefs, Lord Brahma started the creation of the universe on that day. It was also on this day in the month of Chaitra that King Dasharatha organised the coronation of Rama, according to Hindu mythology.

The Sangh affiliates have also decided to take out over 5,000 rallies across the state on the occasion of Ram Navami on April 17 – two days before the start of the staggered Lok Sabha battle.