How The BJP Breached Didi's Bastion

Forcing the Left to move Right, wooing TMC’s disgruntled leaders and building a strong organisation at the grassroots level were key elements of the BJP’s ‘Mission Bengal’ strategy

- Romita Datta

On May 30, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking oath for a second term in office, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee broke open a BJP office at Naihati in North 24 Parganas district and painted her party’s name—the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC)—and its symbol on its wall. Barely eight years after she brought the Left Front’s 34 years of rule to an end, Mamata faces a tough challenger in the shape of the BJP. The BJP has not only won many more seats—from 2 out of 42 in 2014 to now 18—it has also dramatically increased its vote share—from 16.8 per cent in 2014 to 40 per cent in 2019.

It all started in 2015, when BJP president Amit Shah sent 45-year-old Shiv Prakash, joint general secretary (organisation), who does not know a word of Bengali, to the state. The reason? To implement ‘Mission Bengal’. Prakash had closely worked with Shah in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Two leaders from Madhya Pradesh—Kailash Vijayvargiya and Arvind Menon—were also sent to the state. At the time, Mamata enjoyed a 44 per cent vote share, though people were beginning to associate her party leaders with extortion and infringing on people’s democratic rights.

The TMC had won the 2016 assembly poll with a two-thirds majority, despite allegations of corruption against its leaders in the Saradha and Rose Valley ponzi schemes and the sting operation in which TMC leaders were seen taking cash on camera. “The situation was explosive against the ruling party. But we could not make use of it as hardly anyone in rural Bengal had the courage to hoist a BJP flag atop his house,” says a state BJP leader.

BUILDING A NETWORK