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A year on, assembly poll defeat to steal sheen from Bengal BJP’s Durga Puja
After the BJP ended up winning only 77 assembly seats in the keenly watched March-April assembly polls, many in the saffron camp are now apparently trying to distance themselves from the puja at EZCC campus in Kolkata’s Salt Lake
October 22, 2020 was a significant day in Bengal politics as Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually joined the commencement of the first Durga Puja the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised at the campus of the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) in Salt Lake, a township located on eastern outskirts of Kolkata. No other prime minister had inaugurated a Durga Puja in Bengal.
As Modi invoked the goddess in Bengali and talked of female empowerment, laws to curb crime, Jan Dhan accounts for 22 crore women and Central schemes such Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save and educate the girl child), the speech was streamed by the party to its supporters at all 294 assembly constituencies of the poll-bound state.
EZCC, which is the under the Union ministry of culture, wore a festive look with innovative decor, cultural activities and live performance by esteemed artists, drawing people from all over.
Buoyed by the party’s record performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the BJP bagged 18 of the state’s 42 seats, leaders from the state and national executive committees did their best to turn the five-day puja into a grand event.
However, months after the BJP ended up winning only 77 assembly seats in the keenly watched March-April assembly polls, many in the saffron camp are now apparently trying to distance themselves from the puja.
“It is not the BJP’s puja. BJP does not organise pujas,” the state unit’s former president Dilip Ghosh, who was recently made a national vice-president, said on Monday.
Hours later, Sukanta Majumdar, Ghosh’s successor to the state president’s chair, said, “The puja will be held. Tradition and religious customs rule that if you do it once, you must continue for two more years.”
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BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu, a resident of Salt Lake, said, “I may pay a couple of visits to EZCC. I did the same last year. I was never involved in organizing the event.”
Another state BJP leader who resides in the Salt Lake area did not even want to comment on record.
President of the state Mahila Morcha (women’s wing) of the BJP and legislator from the Asansol South assembly constituency, Agnimitra Paul, told HT that the women’s unit will take the entire responsibility.
“The Mahila Morcha did everything last year. The Yuva Morcha (youth wing) helped us. We expect their cooperation this year as well. But the festival will be scaled down. The reason is not what people are perceiving. The BJP increased its tally from three to 77. This cannot be called a defeat by any stretch of imagination. Mamata Banerjee is scared of holding an assembly session because she knows our legislators will raise uncomfortable questions and pin her down,” said Paul.
“We are in no mood to celebrate because more than 45 of our workers have been killed in post-poll violence. Women have been raped. Also, thousands are suffering in the districts because of the floods for which Banerjee is falsely blaming the Centre. We see no joy in this festival,” Paul, who is also a noted fashion designer, added.
BJP leaders said the possibility of Modi addressing the commencement of the event next week is thin.
Sabyasachi Dutta, the former mayor of Salt Lake who switched over to the BJP after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, actively participated in the puja last year.
“The BJP state office sought permission from the EZCC for holding the puja in 2020. The permission was later routed through the police and fire services department. This year, however, I don’t see any serious effort being made. If the puja is downsized, critics will say last year’s grandeur and the Prime Minister’s speech were only aimed at the elections,” Dutta told the media on Wednesday.
After the 2019 polls, the BJP tried to associate itself with community Durga Pujas in Kolkata and the districts to reach out to people but the assembly elections have altered the equations, a section of party leaders feels.
The BJP’s tally in the legislative assembly came down from 77 to 75 immediately after the polls as two MLAs from north Bengal did not take oath and preferred to retain their Lok Sabha seats. By-polls in these constituencies, Dinhata and Santipur, will be held on October 30. Furthermore, the BJP’s tally has come down to 71 since June as four of its legislators have joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The ruling party, on the other hand, has increased its numbers from 213 to 215 by winning two seats in Murshidabad, where elections could not be held in April-May because of the death of two candidates. These results were announced on Sunday along with that of the Bhawanipore by-poll which Mamata Banerjee, a self-declared patron of community pujas, won.
Bollywood singer-turned politician Babul Supriyo, who joined the TMC after being dropped from the Union cabinet, played a key role in the cultural events held at EZCC last year. He enthralled the audience with his popular numbers.
On Wednesday evening, Supriyo was found accompanying Mamata Banerjee at the launch of the festival number of the TMC’s mouthpiece and an album of songs composed by the chief minister.
While the event was in progress, Supriyo presented the chief minister a melodica, a wind instrument that works on the principles of the harmonica but comes with a keyboard into which wind has to be blown through a long pipe.
“I have never used this. I cannot blow into the pipe. Let Babul do it and I will play the keys,” said the chief minister.
As the former BJP Lok Sabha member from Asansol blew into the melodica, the TMC president played a few lines from a Tagore song. “Babul you must sing,” insisted the chief minister, making it apparent that changes in the political scenario will reflect on Bengal’s biggest festival in less than a week
