Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah arrived in West Bengal on Thursday for his first visit to the state since Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept back to power in the state last summer for the third time and amid rumblings within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following its losses in by-polls and a series of defections.
The BJP, which set a target of winning 200 out of 294 seats in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls, managed to get just 77 while TMC bagged 213 after a bitter campaign. BJP’s tally has since come down to 70 after the party lost two assembly seats to the TMC in by-polls. Five BJP lawmakers have also joined TMC without resigning from the opposition party.
Shah is scheduled to address a public meeting at Siliguri in north Bengal, which has emerged as a BJP stronghold, on Thursday. On Friday, he is likely to visit the Teen Bigha Corridor and interact with Border Security Force (BSF) officers.
Bengal BJP leaders said Shah will meet the party’s top state office-bearers, departmental heads, legislators, and members of Parliament on Friday in Kolkata.
The meeting will be held amid rumblings within the BJP’s Bengal unit, which resurfaced after the party’s loss in the by-polls to Kolkata’s Ballygunge assembly and Asansol Lok Sabha seats last month. Former Union minister Babul Supriyo, who joined TMC after quitting BJP, won the Ballygunge seat. Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is also a former BJP leader, won the Asansol seat on a TMC ticket.
{{/usCountry}}The meeting will be held amid rumblings within the BJP’s Bengal unit, which resurfaced after the party’s loss in the by-polls to Kolkata’s Ballygunge assembly and Asansol Lok Sabha seats last month. Former Union minister Babul Supriyo, who joined TMC after quitting BJP, won the Ballygunge seat. Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is also a former BJP leader, won the Asansol seat on a TMC ticket.
{{/usCountry}}Days after the by-poll losses, former BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh called his successor Sukanta Majumdar an “inexperienced” leader. Majumdar, who shot back and said Ghosh too was inexperienced when he was made BJP state president in 2015, took over as the state chief in September last year. He has faced criticism following an organisational reshuffle in December. To accommodate some of the functionaries left out, Majumdar formed new committees but was unable to silence his critics. The central leadership also summoned state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakravorty to Delhi amid demands for his replacement.
Shah will separately lay the foundation stone of Maitri Sangrahalaya, a museum to highlight BSF’s role during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to Bangladesh’s creation. He will inaugurate six floating border outposts (BOPs) and a water ambulance along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Sunderbans during his two-day visit. “...the BOPs and the ambulance will be stationed in the Sunderbans...along the Indo-Bangladesh border...[the BOPs have been] named Sutlej, Narmada, Kaveri, Ganga, Sabarmati, and Krishna,” said a BSF officer.
The India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal is the longest and one of the most porous international borders in any state with rampant smuggling, trafficking, and other illegal activities. Out of the 4096.7 km border, West Bengal shares a 2,216 km stretch with Bangladesh. In south Bengal, the border is over 900 km long out of which nearly 60% is riverine. A major part of the riverine border is located in the Sunderbans, the world’s largest delta that spans 9600 square km and 102 islands in India. The delta is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger and estuarine crocodiles among other endangered species.
BSF’s deputy inspector general (South Bengal Frontier) SS Guleria said the number of floating BOPs is being increased and equipped with modern equipment to strengthen security and enhance surveillance in the Sunderbans’ inaccessible areas.