Will settle every score with interest, Bengal BJP boss rails against TMC

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) pugnacious president of the Bengal unit, Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday swore to attract the sword to counter political violence in poll-bound West Bengal as homage to nationalist chief Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder president of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, forerunner of the BJP.

While the BJP noticed Mookerjee’s loss of life anniversary as Balidan Diwas (martyr’s day) all through the nation, Ghosh’s inflammatory speech in Bengal added to the volatility within the state’s politics and evoked criticism for being blind to Mookerjee’s ideas.

Trinamool Congress (TMC), Congress and Left events condemned Ghosh who talked of avenging the deaths of 104 occasion staff allegedly murdered since 2014.

“The BJP government has realised Mookerjee’s dreams by scrapping Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 and passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. We will follow his struggle and sacrifice,” Ghosh stated on Tuesday after paying homage to Mookerjee on the Keoratala crematorium in south Kolkata.

“If you (TMC) draw the sword, I will draw the sword. If you draw the knife, I will draw the knife too. But if you come with folded hands, I will embrace you. BJP is a strong party now. We can counter the violence. Those who talk of forgiveness are cowards. We will settle every score with interest. I take this oath today in the name of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee,” stated Ghosh.

“I invite all youths to give one year of their lives to usher in a change. This sacrifice is necessary,” stated Ghosh, sending a message for the essential 2021 polls.

Raising a storm on June 19, Ghosh tweeted a brand new slogan: “Badla o hobe, badal o hobe.” (There will likely be revenge in addition to change). The slogan, which seems with Ghosh’s picture and a map of the state, has gone viral. It is a direct reply to Banerjee’s slogan earlier than the historic 2011 polls by which she overthrew the 34-year-old Left govt. “Badla noi, badal chai” (We want change, not revenge) Banerjee had stated.

“As industry minister in the Nehru government, a post he gave up in the interest of Bengal, Mookerjee dreamt of seeing an atmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat. The Congress, the Marxists and the TMC have turned Bengal into a state of migrant workers over the years. Even Hindi-speaking people who settled down generations ago because there were jobs have to look for work in other states. Infiltrators and Rohingyas are being used as vote banks by the TMC,” stated Ghosh.

The TMC was fast to counter Ghosh.

“Ghosh does not believe in positive politics. On the occasion of Rath Yatra I pray to Lord Jagannath to bless Bengal BJP leaders with wisdom. People of Bengal never accepted violence and this was evident in the 1960s and 70’s,” stated Tapas Roy, senior TMC chief and minister of state for parliamentary affairs.

The Congress and Left too condemned the propagation of violence.

“Ghosh talked of using violence for one year. If violence worked on this soil the 34-year-long Left rule would have continued. People did not use guns and bombs to oust the Marxists. They voted silently,” stated Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra.

“Inefficient people make a lot of noise. The same violent elements who were seen beside Mamata Banerjee have now joined the BJP. This strategy will not work on people,” stated Sujan Chakraborty, CPI(M) legislator and chief of the Left events within the state Assembly.

Noted political analyst Amal Mukhopadhyay, a former principal of Presidency College (now a college), stated Ghosh didn’t observe the information in historical past.

“I know the life and activities of Mookerjee very closely. I have never seen him speaking of violence or supporting it anywhere, either in his writings or in his lectures. Though Mookerjee was not a Gandhian, he did not believe in applying violence. If someone says that Mookerjee has shown the way to take revenge with arms then I think he is mistaken,” stated Mukhopadhyay.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP gained 18 of the state’s 42 seats, marking the occasion’s highest ever development in Bengal. Violence has marked all current elections and the essential Assembly elections in 2021 are unlikely to be an exception, political observers say.

The BJP has organized a sequence of digital rallies to deal with folks in several components of the state between June 24 and July 2. These will likely be addressed by Union ministers together with Nirmala Sitharaman and Ravi Shankar Prasad.