Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 5: In a virtual “BJP vs BJP” war in West Bengal, the legislative wing of the party on Monday voted with the ruling Trinamool Congress opposing any division of the state demanded by several tall leaders of the party in the state.
The voting also demonstrated a rare show of coordination between the ruling TMC and Opposition BJP. The resolution was passed by the West Bengal Assembly unanimously opposing any attempt to divide the state.
The motion comes in the backdrop of statements made by some of the senior BJP leaders, including the party’s state unit chief, advocating carving out a separate state or Union Territory (UT) out of north Bengal districts.
Backing the resolution moved by the TMC, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, proposed an amendment to incorporate a line — “We want overall development of a united West Bengal. We are against any attempt to divide West Bengal” — in the motion. The proposal was accepted by Chief Minister Banerjee, paving the way for unanimous passage of the resolution.
Speaking in the Assembly, the chief minister said: “We believe in cooperative federalism. We are opposed to any attempt to divide the state.” Notably, a similar resolution was passed by a voice vote in February last year.
While state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and some other party leaders have raked up the demands for carving out a separate state or Union Territory (UT) out of north Bengal districts, Leader of Opposition Adhikari has rejected it.
Soon after the Lok Sabha polls, in which the BJP saw its tally come down to 12 from the 18 it had won in 2019, Sukanta Majumdar called for a division of the state. On July 24, Majumdar appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to incorporate north Bengal into the Northeast. He said this way, more Central funds and development would come to the people of the region. Majumdar’s proposal was backed by BJP MP from Darjeeling, Raju Bista, who said it was “logical” since “culturally rich north Bengal has vast resources, but gets only 0.002% of West Bengal’s annual budget.”
BJP MP Nagendra Ray, popularly known as Anant Maharaj, also demanded a separate state of Cooch Behar to be carved out of north Bengal. BJP’s Murshidabad MLA Gouri Shankar Ghosh supported party MP and former union minister Nishikant Dubey’s demand for a UT by incorporating parts of Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Adhikari, however, has taken a different stand from his party colleagues. Sources in the BJP said the party has “no clear-cut strategy for Bengal unlike other states.” “The BJP central leadership wants holistic development for Bengal. But the party fell short of expectations in the elections. Therefore, the leaders are not sure how to proceed with plans for the state,” said a senior state party leader.
He said the statements on separate statehood made by various state BJP leaders reflected the “central leadership’s tendency to experiment with Bengal.” “People will assume that Bengal appears like a Frankenstein for carrying out experiments. This will further alienate us from the people of Bengal. If we continue to make such statements, we will lose further ground in the state. Suvendu Adhikari has rightly pointed out what should be our party’s stand regarding Bengal. We don’t want any division of Bengal,” said the BJP leader.
