Union minister Subhas Sarkar kicks up row with remarks on Tagore s complexion thehindu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehindu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Central leadership disconnected from ground reality: Bengal BJP leaders
By IANS |
3 Views
Tathagata Roy. (File Photo: IANS). Image Source: IANS News
New Delhi, May 8 : Despite increasing its tally from three seats to 77 in the 294 member Assembly, many West Bengal BJP leaders feel that the central leadership s failure to gauge the mood on the ground and ignoring the local leadership were the main reasons for losing the high stakes battle to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Listing the reasons for the party s failure to form the government in West Bengal, which was considered the last frontier by the saffron party along with Kerala, West Bengal leaders told IANS that there was little involvement of the state leadership in the decision making, there was too much deployment of central leaders from other other parts of the country, especially from North India, and a failure to present a credible and effective Bengali leadership.
PM Modi with senior Bengal leaders at a rally in Burdwan. (PTI)
NEW DELHI: The BJP is set for a pitched battle in West Bengal with a strong mix of stalwarts some homegrown leaders, some TMC turncoats spearheading the party s campaign to topple the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government.
However, despite having a fair number of heavyweights in its arsenal, the BJP is heading into the high-stakes contest without a chief ministerial face.
There could be many reasons behind this.
The first being that the party lacks a mass leader in West Bengal who can match the appeal and popularity of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Ground Report: The RSS Took Root in Bengal One Haripad at a Time
Haripad Singh Roy, old time RSS worker, Hooghly district, Bengal.
Politics3 hours ago
Hooghly (West Bengal): Standing on his plot of land in Jagannathpur village, Hooghly district, 60-year-old Haripad Singh Roy points to a broken wall that once marked his family home: “Thatâs where they entered the house and killed my brothers. Itâs still so painful, I find it hard to look in that direction.â
This was April 13, 2001. According to Haripad, a mob of men associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) broke into his house at 7 am and grabbed his eldest brother, Hara Singh Roy and the youngest, Dayal Singh Roy. They were beaten to death with rods and lathis. âI managed to hide in time so they couldnât spot me. Another younger brother was away in Mednipur where he was the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]
In West Bengal, where the electoral discourse hitherto steered clear of divisive religious propaganda, the BJP and the ruling TMC are locked in a fierce polarising debate, accusing each other of fanning communal sentiments ahead of elections.