There was uproar in BJP after Monirul Islam’s inductionFollowing an uproar within the BJP over Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Monirul Islam joining the saffron party, the party has decided to go slow on the spate of inductions from West Bengal and allow entry to leaders only after scrutiny of their antecedent “at the highest level”.
Monirul, who won the 2016 Assembly elections from Labhpur, a seat in West Bengal’s Bolpur district, for the TMC, joined the BJP earlier this week.
His induction caused an uproar both within the BJP and on social media, where people asked how the BJP will provide succour from “Trinamool terror” if those very faces of terror join the party.
Monirul, who was with the Forward Bloc, a Left Front constituent, quickly changed sides when the power turnstile moved in West Bengal and joined the Trinamool. He has now entered the BJP as the saffron party follows the footsteps of Mukul Roy, once TMC’s number 2 who is now engineering defections from his former party.
A senior BJP leader said: “The indiscriminate recruitment will hurt the party in the long run because we will have absolutely no control over who is joining, and that person’s antecedents. This cannot go on. After Monirul Islam joined, many people in the party have asked how can we accuse TMC of political violence when we are getting the very (alleged) perpetrators of such violence into our party. A decision has now been taken to go slow.”
According to this BJP leader, no new leaders will be inducted without scrutiny. “The decision will rest with the top leadership. People who have been with the BJP for decades are upset that the political leaders they fought against are now being welcomed into the party,” the leader said.
Sources said BJP national general secretary (organisation) Ramlal has conveyed this decision to the party’s Bengal leadership even as questions are also being raised there about the lack of adequate representation from the state in the new government.
Roy, whose residence at 181-South Avenue in Lutyens’ Delhi has become a guesthouse of sorts, hosting hundreds of potential TMC deserters, however, though sees nothing wrong with TMC leaders of all hues joining the BJP. “People in West Bengal are tired of Trinamool’s violence (and) corruption. Leaders are regularly calling me up to say that they cannot take this any longer.”
Asked whether indiscriminate party-hopping could end in the BJP replicating the TMC’s violent ways, Roy, whose MLA-son Subhrangshu also joined the saffron party recently, said, “It is about whether you know how to control the people you get.”
Sources in BJP said the leadership is confident that the message of Hindutva and the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be enough for the party to dent the Trinamool bastion in the next Assembly polls without the “baggage” of Trinamool turncoats.
