No to defectors.

The tormented strategist of Bengal, Prashant Kishor has finally commented on the defections of many of their legislators and an MP to the BJP’s fold. He dared today in a tweet, “BJP will struggle to CROSS DOUBLE DIGITS. Please save this tweet. If BJP does any better, I must quit this space.” He must be one hell of a confident strategist and therefore worth the hefty price he is charging.

Be that as it may, the mood in the BJP offices is one of jubilation and euphoric, as if the election is already won. I wonder amid all this high profile VVIPs visits and pressing their party into a poll mode with the successful expansion of their strength. The blowing conches sounding gongs and frenzied beats of the drums along the routes of the convoy of Amit Shah was almost ethereal. Shah’s vehicle, a truck, all decked with flower garlands looked like a rath, as flowers and petals showered on the leader.

The big crowds at various places were no less joyful, places representing a religious congregation like Durga Puja. The size of the crowds must’ve certainly pleased Shah, and the Bengal minder Kailash Vijayavargiya and State BJP president Dilip Ghosh too must be pretty pleased with their efforts. The lunch, now a fixed act, at an artist’s home went smoothly through, with no taunts from the Bengal CM that the food came from a five-star hotel, as she claimed in the past.

Be these as they may, the statements often emanating from the BJP office that a hundred MLAs or a 5 MPs from the TMC are ready to switch over to the BJP is causing some disturbance in many minds. When Mamata won after dislodging the CPM for misrule and corruption, she made it a point to keep the left leaders at bay, though the same cannot be said about cadres. Later, Didi admitted Marxist leaders like Abdul Rezzak Mollah into TMC, revealing the increasing disenchantment of the minority voters and her attempts to assuage the block.

What cannot be debated is the lack of many intellectual faces for the BJP in Bengal. There are fewer leaders in the BJP who have to depend on proven faces from the opposition heavily. This is a shortcut and may not be a safe route at all. If the BJP is trying to prove that the TMC government as corrupt, do they mean only the Chief Minister and her nephew. Instead of filling their rank and files with defectors, they must, even in case of a bit delay, shape their party with better managers.  Otherwise, like the TMC is filled with left cadres and middle-rung leaders, BJP will also be inheriting the burden of mismanagement of the State. 

My feeling is any indiscriminate admissions into the party must stop.  Many may want to disown a sinking ship merely to escape from the serious corruption charges, or merely to continue to enjoy the ‘enriching’ politics. 

Lastly, PK has promised to quit this space if BJP moves into a three-digit score in the forthcoming elections. He has not clarified whether he would be vacating the Twitter space or the space from West Bengal.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix