Why JP Nadda's Bengal visit is significant for BJP's political future

The Panchayat poll is just around the corner in Bengal. Meanwhile, the opposition BJP is in massive trouble with infighting and a leadership crisis. Amid the growing discontent within the Bengal unit of the BJP, the party's national president, JP Nadda, was on a two-day in Kolkata on June 8-9. 

According to BJP insiders, Nadda's focus was on developing the SOP for the panchayat polls and negotiating with disgruntled leadership. However, it is an opportunity for the state BJP to turn things around.

In May, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Bengal and urged the leaders to strengthen the organisation to fight against Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. However, things worsened after his visit. A few weeks back, one of the most prominent BJP MPs, Arjun Singh, who joined the party before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Trinamool Congress, did a Ghar Wapsi.

Meanwhile, the infighting within the Bengal BJP became exposed as the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party wrote a letter to former Bengal BJP chief and national Vice President Dilip Ghosh advising him not to speak in front of the media. However, Ghosh rubbished the advice and continued to interact openly with the media.

At a party meeting in Calcutta on Wednesday, BJP national chief JP Nadda attempted to motivate the Bengal unit in a speech lasting more than 40 minutes, but it was not enough to get five MPs, including three Union ministers, to attend.

During an executive committee meeting at the National Library, Nadda addressed the state's executive committee for the first time since Sukanta Majumdar was named the state's chief and the entire organisation was restructured. Members of Parliament S.S. Ahluwalia and Kunar Hembram were absent, as were union ministers John Barla, Subhash Sarkar, and Shantanu Thakur. A few MLAs and state vice-president Raju Banerjee did not attend.

Leak is the ‘virus’ for Bengal BJP

One of the issues, according to BJP insiders, will be the issue of leaks. The state BJP unit is suffering from a massive privacy crisis. Every piece of information gets either to the media or to the opposition Trinamool Congress. The situation is so bad that even information and talking points of a closed-door meeting held by the Home Minister, Amit Shah, under his security cover got leaked. Bengal BJP senior office bearers have confirmed that the state leadership will discuss the lack of privacy issue with Nadda. They also stated that until and unless this issue is resolved, preparing for Panchayat elections or even Lok Sabha elections would be difficult for the party.

A change in strategy against fighting Mamata Banerjee 

Following the defeat of the BJP in the 2021 Bengal assembly elections, the party has focused heavily on the issue of post-election violence. However, as infighting within the BJP has increased over the past year and grassroots strength has deteriorated, the state leadership has urged Nadda to devise a new strategy.

This was the most crucial decision for the BJP state unit. JP Nadda has instructed the party leaders to stop campaigning on the basis of the post-poll violence losses. He has urged Bengal BJP leaders to focus on door-to-door campaigning, street corners, booth-level rallies, and regular district-level marches. BJP President JP Nadda has formed the party's strategy for the upcoming Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections during his visit.

Dealing with tussle between current and former Bengal BJP chiefs

One of JP Nadda's most important tasks during this visit is to put out the flames of the tussle between the current and former Bengal BJP chiefs. After the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the West Bengal assembly elections of 2021, the central leadership replaced Dilip Ghosh with the new Bengal BJP chief, Sukanta Majumdar, last September. After taking over the charge for the first time, Mazumdar started making several course corrections. During these changes, people close to Dilip Ghosh did not get a chance to hold important positions in the state committees.

Despite several pushbacks from the people close to Dilip Ghosh, the current Bengal BJP chief did not shift from his stand. This decision irked Dilip Ghosh, and he made a public statement against Sukanta Majumdar. According to a TOI report, Ghosh said, "Sukanta Majumdar has recently been given the responsibility. He is less experienced. The party has been fighting for a long time, and there are experienced veterans who were part of that. They need to be used to putting up a fight in the state, ”

Nadda was expeted to meet with both leaders personally and divide their responsibilities in the state.

Growing infighting and giving prominence to young leaders

In the past few months, the central leadership of the BJP has made it clear that in Bengal they want to give prominence to young leaders. Similarly, to stop the Ghar Wapsi of the TMC turncoats, the central leadership wants to promote these leaders more than the original BJP leaders. Party leaders have strongly objected to this decision. JP Nadda and BL Santosh, the National General Secretary (Organisation), met with the leaders separately to explain the strategy. 

According to Bengal BJP sources, the central leadership is adamant about promoting the unit's young leaders. They also believe that this decision has a lot to do with Subhendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly. Adhikari was one of the closest confidantes of TMC supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. He not only changed the boat before the election but also defeated Banerjee from Nandigram. In the eyes of a large section of the Bengal BJP, Adhikari became the undisputed leader as a result of this. BJP insiders also believe that despite infighting and leadership problems, Subhendu Adhikari has stayed strong inside the party. This has given them the confidence of the central leadership to promote people who can work in coordination with TMC turncoat leaders like Adhikari.