THE STATE unit of the BJP has started planning for a ‘Nabanna Abhiyan’ – a march to the state secretariat – at the beginning of 2022. The party has also decided to expand its agitation – launched in Singur recently – to different parts of Bengal, highlighting farmers issues. The party plans to give a “morale boost” to its workers at the grassroots level and also prepare for the upcoming municipal polls after a dismal show in the Kolkata civic elections.
On Friday, a meeting of new office-bearers of the state BJP, presided by its Bengal unit president Sukanto Majumdar, was convened.
“The only way to rejuvenate the party at the grassroots level is to launch and expand agitations. There are many issues in the state, including farmers’ plight. We have already sat on a dharna near Singur, highlighting farmers’ issues. At the end of January we are thinking of a massive rally where our leaders and workers will march to Nabanna (state secretariat). The agitation for farmers will have to be expanded throughout the state. We are the main opposition party in the state and we will have to highlight people’s issues and the tyrannical rule of TMC,” said a senior BJP leader.
“Some of our leaders are also of the opinion that a mega rally should be held in Kolkata in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be the main speaker. But this plan is not finalised and also depends on the PM’s schedule,” the leader added.
With civic polls in many districts scheduled to be held in February, the party is desperately seeking to revive its workers and local leaders in the districts, especially North Bengal where it did relatively well in the Assembly polls earlier this year.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP won 18 of 42 seats and in the Assembly polls, it got 77 out of 294 seats. However since then the performance of the saffron party the state has been on a down slide. It failed to win any of the bypolls that were held in seven Assembly seats. In the recently held KMC polls, the BJP managed to win just three of 144 seats and was relegated to number three, with the Left securing more vote share.
Since the Assembly polls, the state BJP has also been hit by several desertions in its rank and file, including elected MLAs, apart from other leaders and workers, joining TMC.
“After the TMC regained power in the state, our workers were hit with a wave of violence. Then, losses in mutiple elections, affected workers’ morale. We are working out ways to rejuvenate them. Our party is still strong,” said a senior state BJP leader.
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