Bengal: BJP Playing on‘Identity’ Politics, Post-Ram Navami Communal Discord to Improve Tally

Kolkata: In North Bengal, where the first phase of polling in the three districts of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri – is already over, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to bank on identity politics to lure votes in the Lok Sabha polls, as it did in the 2019 general elections when it won all these three seats.

In Cooch Behar and Alipurduar the BJP tried to pit the Rajbanshis against the main castes, while alluring the latter with the hope of a bifurcated state that would improve their job prospects in North Bengal, according to poll promises made by some BJP leaders. 

However, in Jalpaiguri, where there's a three-way contest between Trinamool Congress (TMC), BJP and CPI(M), the issues of tea garden workers resonated as an election issue, giving an edge to non- BJP forces.

The BJP has raked the Rajbanshi issue carefully this time, different from its earlier demand of a  ‘Greater Kamtapur’ state, with its ground campaign pitching for a entirely different state of North Bengal.

The issue of the separate state of Gorkhaland is set to resonate in the hills of North Bengal, as the BJP candidate for Darjeeling has openly professed it, while the TMC candidate Gopal Lama has chosen to remain silent on the subject. The Left parties and Hamro Party supported the Congress candidate Munish Tamang, who is banking on giving the Sixth Schedule to the hills of North Bengal, a long-standing demand for greater autonomy for the hills.

However, for the Darjeeling seat, the BJP is using an unusual tactic of playing different fiddles in the hills and in the plains. In the plains, it is banking on the Rajbanshi votes with the promise of the separate state of North Bengal, while in the hills, the saffron party is openly raising the demand for the Gorkhaland demand.

In the Siliguri Assembly, seat where BJP won in the last Assembly election, BJP has returned to its hardcore Hindutva campaign with high-pitched Ram Navami celebrations. Strangely, this time the incumbent TMC, too, held Ram Navami celebrations in Siliguri town on April 17.

In fact, displaying different tactics in different districts of West Bengal, both the TMC and BJP this time joined in to observe Ram Navami in a big way in the state, where such celebrations have been dormant within the majority Bengali community for long and have been brought to the fore by Right-wing Hindu outfit, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS  in recent years.

Traditionally, West Bengal has worshipped female goddesses, such as Durga, Kali, Saraswati and Laxmi. This year’s Ram Navami celebrations, with arms being displayed in some areas, have disturbed Bengali sentiments in quite a few places, as per reports. More so, as these have been openly supported by the TMC, the ruling party in the state.

The Left Front has often alleged that TMC has a tacit understanding with BJP, as it takes part in the “RSS-dictated programmes in the state in return for a safe passage for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee”, both of whom are allegedly linked with many corruption cases. 

During polling in the Rampurhat sub-division of Birbhum district, the police filed complaints against the BJP candidate Debasish Dhar in the Birbhum parliamentary segment, for openly taking part in the Ram Navami celebrations with swords in hand.  However, reports said that in the same rally, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, too, had marched, but the police did not file cases against them. This is the BJP’s contention.     

In minority-dominated Murshidabad district, where CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim is in the fray, backed by the Congress, the BJP and TMC took out Ram Navami processions leading to clashes. Salim had strongly condemned the incident, criticising both BHP and TMC for “fanning communal sentiments” in the name of Ram Navami processions. He also pointed out that during the Left Front rule until  2011, there was not a single incident of Ram Navami clashes. 

In Howrah district, too, the TMC candidate was seen leading the Ram Navami procession, with election symbols flapping on the hoods of open jeeps.

Leading intellectuals of the state, including Pabitra Sarkar, actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty and others strongly criticised the attempt to seek votes in the name of religion by both BJP and TMC and urged the Election Commission to take action. However, the Election Commission is silent on this so far.

It may be recalled that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, during the Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations recently, had openly called upon the Muslim community to vote for TMC in the state. The intellectuals submitted proof of newspaper cuttings to the Election Commission. 

BJP is also playing identity politics in the western districts of the state, such as Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and West Medinipur, where they are trying to divide Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe votes in the name of Kurmi, adivasi and mulbasi votes. However, this year, they are being challenged by Left forces at the ground level.

However, TMC has also started projecting its brand of identity politics by trying to woo the chiefs of adivasi communities, Majhi Maroya society, Kurmis etc. However, not every leader of the Kurmi society is happy with the TMC government, as many of them had been thrown into jail last year for daring to stop the convoy of the ruling party scion, Abhishek Banerjee.

Interestingly, beyond some pockets, the BJP, which thought that it has scored vital points in the last election by making Ram Mandir an issue, has had to redirect itself towards talking about TMC’s alleged corruption, but cannot go too deep into it, as many of BJP’s own leaders, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, is also involved in the Sarada and Narada scams, even though they have got ‘clean chits’ after joining BJP.

Buoyed by the media-supported binary, BJP is hoping to improve its tally in this year’s Lok Sabha election in West Bengal by polarising the atmosphere till the last leg of polling in June, but it is being challenged at every step to prevent the state from being communally divided.