The
2019 general elections may be a fight
for the
to secure a second straight term
in office at the Centre,
in West Bengal,
it is a "
semi-
final
match"
for the saffron party before
it takes
on a redoubtable opponent
in
Mamata Banerjee
in the assembly
polls
in
2021.
Ironically, despite being the land of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Bhartiya Jana Sangh, the
BJP's forerunner, the party was never reckoned
as a potent political force
in the state till the 2014
Lok Sabha
polls, when
it clinched 17 per cent votes and two seats.
The
BJP, which edged past the Congress and the Left Front
in the panchayat elections last year, hopes
to ride the anti-incumbency factor and alleged "appeasement politics" of the West Bengal chief minister
to position itself firmly
as the main opposition party.
Factionalism
in the once formidable CPI(M)-led Left Front, which Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) ousted from power after 34 years
in 2011, and the Congress, has helped the
BJPemerge
as an aggressive opposition force
in the state.
According
to
BJP leaders, the party currently has 40 lakh members
in West Bengal.
The
BJP has, over the years, expanded its support base
in tribal-dominated Junglemahal and
in border areas which have a sizeable population of refugees from Bangladesh that were once considered the strongholds of the Left and the TMC.
The party, claim saffron party leaders, will benefit from the failure of the Left Front and the Congress
to sew
up an alliance,
as
it would result
in a three-way split
in anti-
BJP votes, with the ruling TMC getting a sizeable chunk.
The
BJP, they say, will now be locked
in a direct fight with the TMC
in constituencies like Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Raiganj, Balurghat, Malda South
in north Bengal, and Murshidabad, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Basirhat, Barrackpore, Asansol, Purulia, Jhargram, Bankura and Midnapore seats
in south Bengal.
Enthused by its performance
in the panchayat
polls, when
it won 7,000 odd seats
in three-tier panchayati raj institutions,
BJP president
Amit Shah has set an ambitious target of winning 23 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats. The party had won just two seats
in 2014.
Acutely aware that
it would be a daunting, if not impossible,
to repeat its performance
in key Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where
it had won 73 of the 80 seats and 31 of the 40
in 2014, the party is seeking
to break new ground
in states like West Bengal and Odisha.
Asking not
to be named, a senior
BJP leader said apart from the "vacuum"
in the opposition space, "pervasive corruption" and "appeasement" of Muslims, who constitute around 30 per cent of the state's population, have helped the saffron party strengthen itself
in West Bengal.
"Frequent communal riots
in various parts of the state due
to rise
in infiltration and the fast changing demography of border areas have been important reasons behind the
BJP emerging
as the main alternative. The TMC has forgotten that the majority Hindu community is not happy with
it," says state
BJP chief Dilip Ghosh.
The Hindu right wielded considerable influence
in violence-scarred West Bengal
in the aftermath of Partition, before waning considerably over the years.
In the first assembly
polls
in 1952, the Hindu Mahasabha and Jana Sangh together won 13 seats, pocketing around 8 percent votes. The same year, Hindu Mahasabha candidate N C Chatterjee and Jana Sangh's Syama Prasad Mookerjee were elected
to the Lok Sabha from Hooghly and Calcutta South-West seats.
In the 1957 assembly
polls, although the Jana Sangh drew a blank, the Hindu Mahasabha won 23 seats.
The death of Mookerjee
in 1953 saw a sharp decline
in the political clout of the Hindu right organisations, which were relegated
to the fringes.
The
Indian National Congress and its splinter groups ruled the state from 1952
to June 1977, before the communists, who were gaining
in strength since the late 1960s through agrarian movements, formed their government. They would go
on
to play an epic 34-year innings
in power till 2011 when
Mamata Banerjee's party formed its government.
After the
BJP was launched
in 1980,
it hardly had any presence
in the state and was ridiculed
as the 'Party of Burrabazaar', the trading hub of Kolkata. Under Vishnu Kanta Shastri and Tapan Sikdar, a former Union minister, the
BJP was considered a party of erudite men but largely remained
on the margins during the Left rule.
In the 1991 Lok Sabha election that was held at the height of the Ram temple movement, the party failed
to open its account
in the state but made its presence felt with 12 per cent votes
in its kitty.
It failed
to build
on the momentum
in the years that followed, and contested the 1998 election
in alliance with the TMC. The
BJP won its maiden Lok Sabha seat when Sikdar emerged victorious from Dumdum.
In the 1999 general election, when
it again went
to the hustings
in alliance with the TMC,
it won two seats and polled an impressive 11 per cent votes.
It, however, drew a blank
in the 2004 Lok Sabha and 2006 state assembly elections.
As Banerjee consolidated her position, she jettisoned the
BJP
in order
to endear herself
to Muslim voters.
The saffron party managed
to win the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat
in 2009, with the party polling around 6 per cent votes.
Banerjee forged an alliance with the Congress
for the 2011 assembly
polls. The
BJP drew a blank despite clinching around 5 per cent votes.
Things began
to look
up
for the party
in 2012 when its cadre began taking
to streets against the Banerjee government over various issues
as the Left was still smarting from the 2011 drubbing that brought an end
to its 34-year unbroken rule
in West Bengal.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha
polls, when a Modi wave swept across states, West Bengal did not remain untouched, and contesting alone the party went
on
to win Asansol and retain Darjeeling, polling 17 per cent votes.
The party clinched three seats
in the 2016 assembly elections, and emerged
as an aggressive challenger
to the TMC
in the panchayat elections when the state's ruling party was alleged
tohave ensured the victory of a large number of its candidates uncontested through strong-arm tactics.
Innumerable incidents of clashes between the TMC and
BJP cadres were reported from across the state, prompting the Supreme Court
to observe that thousands of seats going uncontested showed that democracy was not working
in the state.
The TMC, however, remains dismissive about the gains made by the
BJP.
"The
BJP might have votes
in some pockets
as Left and Congress are helping
it, but the politics of communalism and violence will never work
in Bengal
as long
as the TMC is here," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee told PTI.