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Make more noise than the Left: Mantra of Bengal BJP leaders before Thursday’s agitation
Three processions will be led by Rahul Sinha, Dilip Ghosh and Kailash Vijayvargiya. There will be a fourth rally that is supposed to take the police by surprise and the details of which are being kept under wraps by the state BJP leaders.
Make more noise than the Left -- this is the single point agenda that Bengal BJP leaders are pursuing as they got ready for Thursday’s agitation programme in front of Kolkata Police headquarters.
The ‘March to the state secretariat’ supported by 11 Leftist organisations organised on Monday has triggered widespread publicity and condemnation from many quarter because of the tough police action to deal with the agitators.
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The game of oneupmanship comes at a time when the Left parties are facing a swiftly eroding vote share and BJP seem to be on the upswing in Bengal, which has been described as one of the party’s focus states for expansion by president Amit Shah.
Accordingly, instead of depending on the district units to ensure large turnout, BJP leaders are bringing people not just from the neighbouring states of Bihar and Jharkhand, but also from Uttar Pradesh.
“We have fixed the quota for individual district units in West Bengal stipulating the number of people they have to assemble for the agitation. Since our central leader, Kailash Vijayvargiya will be there, many BJP supporters from outside the state may join the protest,” BJP state president, Dilip Ghosh said.
According to Ghsoh, Monday’s agitation programme was a fixed match between CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress. “They have played the semi-final on Monday. But the final match will be on Thursday,” Ghosh remarked.
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According to a state BJP spokesman, three teams of BJP leaders will march towards the Kolkata Police headquarters from three points namely College Square, Howrah station and Sealdah station.
“One team will be led by Kailash Vijayvargiya and the other two by Dilip Ghosh and former BJP state president, Rahul Sinha,” he said.
Apart from that, he said, there will be fourth team, which will approach from a secret location and through an undisclosed route. “The target of this fourth team will be get into the police headquarters, while the police will be busy with the other three teams,” the spokesman said.
When asked whether BJP leadership is apprehending wide- spread violence as it happened on Monday, Ghosh replied, “Everything will depend on how police will react. If they want vegetarian food, we will serve that. If they non- vegetarian, we are game too.”
Meanwhile, sources from Kolkata Police told HT that strict instructions have come from the police commissioner, Rajeev Kumar, that under no circumstance should Monday’s situation be repeated where journalists became targets of police assault.
