Original Image: PTI
Dilip Ghosh, president of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not be contesting the upcoming Assembly Elections in the state. The Telegraph reported that Ghosh made the announcement after emerging from a day-long meeting at BJP national president JP Nadda’s Delhi home.
Ghosh told media-persons, “I’m not contesting in the polls,” but did not offer any explanation giving rise to a wide range of speculation. It is well known that Ghosh has a history of making inflammatory and communally charged statements, which might not augur well for his electoral prospects, though it does win him brownie points within the party.
In December 2020, addressing a Hindu Sammelan organised by the Hindu Jagran Manch at Garbeta, Ghosh encouraged Hindu youth to take up arms. According to a report in The Statesman, Ghosh had said, “Lord Ram had taken arms at a very young age. To protect the dignity of our mothers and sisters, the Hindu youths need to be united. If need be, they should take up weapons.” He added, “The Constitution has given us the right. To take up arms in protection of our religion, pride and life is not illegal. We’ll do exactly that.”
Ghosh has in the past also issued violent ‘warnings’ to party workers of Trinamool Congress, days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to West Bengal, saying “All brothers of Didi better mend their ways in six months. Otherwise their arms, legs, ribs and heads will be broken. You will either end up in the hospital or the crematorium!” Before that he had called the state a “second Kashmir” alleging there were more terrorists in Bengal than in Kashmir when addressing BJP workers in Birbhum. “All terrorists have taken shelter in Bengal. Arrests (of terrorists) were made twice from Murshidabad. Bengal has become second Kashmir,” he had said taking a communal jibe at West Bengal’s Muslim population that traditionally does not vote for the BJP.
Then there is the matter of the a humiliating defeat suffered by the BJP in Kharagpur Sadar during the by-polls held last year. This was the constituency of BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh. By-elections were necessitated here when Ghosh became a Member of Parliament. But TMC’s Pradip Sarkar thrashed BJP’s Prem Chandra Jha with a winning margin of over 20,000 votes! Looks like the BJP is in no mood to take a risk.
There is also speculation that Ghosh could be appointed Chief Minister and later contest by-polls within six months. This is a tried-and-tested strategy as seen in the cases of Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and BS Yediyurappa in Karnataka. A source close to Ghosh was quoted by The Telegraph as saying, “Dilipda wouldn’t take a risk of fighting the polls. If he is made the CM, he will get elected in a bypoll.”
Or perhaps the party hopes that if Ghosh is perceived to be making a sacrifice by not contesting elections, it might set an example for BJP old-hands who are vehemently protesting the giving away of tickets to newly inducted Trinamool Congress (TMC) turncoats.
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