A mutton curry-rice lunch is a Sunday staple at most households throughout Bengal. Sure, even a religious fish loving ‘Bhadralok’ would often stay up for this one afternoon of the week when his profound bias as a piscivore would quite indulgently make approach for a richer, extra fat-inducing choice. Nonetheless, this previous Sunday was a bit totally different. Together with the aroma of tender mutton cooked in a concoction of spices and mustard oil wafting by means of the living-dining space, there was one thing else wafting within the air, too – politics. The lounge tv was belting out some high-octane ‘breaking information’ that had a ‘Ganguly’ within the headlines. For a change, it wasn’t Sourav Ganguly, however Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay (Ganguly, in widespread parlance), the Calcutta Excessive Court docket choose, who had simply revealed his determination to resign from his function within the judiciary and take a plunge into energetic politics — BJP being the occasion of his selection, as reported by a piece of the Kolkata-based media.
The irony is actually not misplaced on the truth that BJP’s seek for a reputable, quintessential Bengali ‘Bhadralok’ to be the occasion’s customary bearer in Bengal has in all probability led them from the doorsteps of 1 ‘Ganguly’ to a different!
Whereas political circles in Kolkata and past had been abuzz with the potential for the previous India skipper becoming a member of forces with the saffron occasion simply forward of the 2021 meeting polls in Bengal, Ganguly’s sudden sickness (he underwent an angioplasty) put paid to the BJP’s hopes and possibly slammed the brakes on no matter political ambitions ‘Dada’ might have harboured.
The BJP then reportedly tried to rope in widespread Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, however nothing concrete emerged out of these forays. This lastly noticed veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty becoming a member of the saffron occasion with some fanfare in Kolkata earlier than the 2021 polls, however that was too late within the day and given the thespian’s earlier dalliance with governing Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Chakraborty-experiment was fairly a humid squib, so to talk.
Unusual as it might sound, in Bengal — the birthplace of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, one of many founding ideologues of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, to which the BJP owes its DNA — the saffron occasion has for lengthy been perceived as primarily a North Indian, Hindi-speaking outfit, an “outsider” of kinds in a state that all the time took a whole lot of pleasure in its ‘culture-consciousness’. In consequence, the BJP by no means discovered a lot of a political traction in Bengal, till the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when it stunningly received 18 of the 42 seats – its best-ever efficiency within the state. Whereas that outcome catapulted the BJP’s standing in Bengal from ‘additionally rans’ to a major contender for energy like by no means earlier than, the occasion nonetheless remained hobbled with its lack of ability to current a reputable, different face that might tackle the charisma of Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister.
The closest that the BJP has to date managed to get is within the type of Suvendu Adhikari, who, regardless of his political acumen and a strikingly strident anti-Mamata stance that has discovered a good bit of resonance in pockets of rural Bengal, remains to be grappling to rid himself of the cobwebs of being a “TMC turncoat”.
In that sense, having former Justice Gangopadhyay inside its fold is a windfall for Bengal BJP. Given his sustained, upright stance towards corruption and his clear picture as an earlier serving member of the judiciary, he can undoubtedly lend a whole lot of heft to Bengal BJP’s enchantment among the many voters within the months and years forward. In additional methods than one, former Justice Gangopadhyay is simply the form of counter-narrative that Bengal BJP has to date been desperately scouting for, although with little success, to mobilize mass opinion towards rising complaints of corruption and nepotism towards governing TMC and be sure that public outrage towards the institution will get translated into votes. For that to occur, BJP wanted a reputable face to gasoline its marketing campaign, a tangible different to compete with Mamata-led TMC’s populist, socialistic outreach.
It stays to be seen whether or not retd Justice Gangopadhyay really joins the BJP. He’s set to make a proper announcement about his resignation as a excessive court docket choose on Tuesday and is prone to make his political ambitions clearer on Thursday. Nonetheless, by expressing his want to affix politics with out mincing his phrases, he has walked the speak and picked up the gauntlet thrown down by TMC MP and the occasion’s nationwide basic secretary Abhishek Banerjee. On a number of events previously, whereas the previous Justice had been scathing in his criticism of TMC and its management, significantly Abhishek, over the trainer recruitment rip-off and different alleged irregularities of the TMC-led dispensation in Bengal, Abhishek had returned the thunder, difficult the previous excessive court docket choose to affix the fray for an all-out political battle.
That the previous choose has accepted that problem speaks volumes about his braveness and conviction, although how far he’ll reach his new function is anyone’s guess at this time limit.
It’s a slippery slope for him little doubt. On the one hand, he must show himself as he takes on hardnosed, thoroughbred politicians within the rival camp, who’ve thrived on the tough and tumble of a 24X7 public life for years – a far cry from the protocol and etiquette-driven template {that a} profession in judiciary would usually entail. However, his entry into energetic politics and prepared acceptance throughout the lots could also be perceived and interpreted as a menace to the political ambitions of his personal occasion colleagues, thereby leaving sufficient room for an intra-party churning throughout the BJP within the coming days.
Whether or not the Bengal unit of BJP will present sufficient mettle to climate these ‘cytokine storms’ is what is going to in all probability make or mar the occasion in a state it has by no means ruled earlier than. Hold watching!
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the writer’s personal.
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