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Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Samik Bhattacharya's inclusive pitch: Can BJP's Bengal pivot disrupt Mamata's playbook?
PTI file photo NEW DELHI: There's a new player in Bengal politics, and he's trying to rewrite the rules of the game. How often do you see a politician praising opposition leaders of bygone eras, lamenting their lack of recognition in history books, and, in the process, attempting to connect with party cadres? It's early days, but newly appointed Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya is doing just that. Challenging the TMC juggernaut In today's political landscape, where civility is scarce and coarse discourse is the norm, Samik's polished approach stands out as a welcome change and a fresh challenge to the ruling TMC . Over the past five years, the TMC has perfected a political playbook: branding the BJP as a party of bohiragato (outsiders), referring to Modi and Shah as zamindars (entitled overlords), highlighting alleged deprivation of central funds, and reinforcing Mamata Banerjee's image as the 'true daughter of the soil' with campaigns like Bangla nijer meyekei chay (Bengal wants its own daughter). Backed by unwavering support from women voters benefiting from welfare schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar and overwhelming endorsement from the minority community, the TMC has built a resilient social base, weathering anti-incumbency and serious graft allegations. Changing BJP's narrative But Samik Bhattacharya, 62, a grassroots leader who rose from block-level ranks, is now experimenting with a distinctly different strategy to disrupt that winning formula. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like An engineer reveals: One simple trick to get internet without a subscription Techno Mag Learn More Undo He's attempting to bring 'Bengal' back into the state BJP's political narrative, focusing more sharply on the emotional and historical context of Partition and the creation of West Bengal, things which many believe greatly discomfort the Bengali liberals. In speech after speech, Samik evokes Syama Prasad Mookerjee, highlighting his pivotal role in forming West Bengal and the bipartisan support he received. He's pushing for a people's mahajot (grand alliance) against the TMC and using history as a strategic bridge to reach voters across the spectrum. The prominent display of Goddess Kali during his official takeover last week was no afterthought; it was part of a deliberate recalibration of optics. With Amit Malviya asserting that 'BJP is the only pro-Bengali party born in Bengal,' it's clear the saffron party is tailoring its message to reflect Bengali sub-nationalism. Samik is now articulating a narrative rooted in Bengali asmita (pride), arguing that Bengal's soul is under attack and must be defended. An inclusive message with strategic hints 'What's the point of politics if there is no West Bengal?' he asked recently, in an earnest pitch to disillusioned CPM and Congress cadres, urging them to support the BJP in the larger interest of the state. Samik highlights atrocities against minorities in neighbouring Bangladesh, tacitly warning his core voters by invoking memories from the border district of Murshidabad. Yet, unlike Bengal's leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who calls directly for Hindu consolidation, Samik frames his message in inclusive terms, envisioning a Bengal where Durga Puja immersions and Muharram processions can take place peacefully, side by side. In his debut speech, he even reached out to Muslims. Acknowledging the minority community's mistrust of the BJP, he said the party wants books, not stones, in the hands of Muslim youth. Referring to icons like Kazi Nazrul Islam and Syed Mujtaba Ali, Samik urged the community to self-introspect and think about whom they want to emulate. By using phrases like marche musalman, morche musalman (Muslims are killing Muslims), many believe Samik is also trying to loosen the TMC's grip on the minority vote bank. Assuring Muslims, Samik said India is a country of joto mot, toto poth (as many opinions, so many paths), referencing Ramakrishna Paramhansa's immortal words. According to him, India's strength lies in pluralism, not Hindutva. He yearns for a time when Hindus and Muslims celebrated Saraswati Puja together in schools. What's the unsaid plan? Speaking to TOI, political expert Professor Sibaji Pratim Basu said Samik is dialing down anti-Muslim rhetoric because it had proven counterproductive, leading to consolidated minority support for the TMC. Professor Basu also believes this outreach isn't necessarily about gaining Muslim votes, but about gaining legitimacy among the urbane Bengali intelligentsia, which still views the BJP with deep suspicion. Even if some of the urban Left-liberals who in 2021 rallied behind the 'No Vote to BJP' campaign switch sides, it could prove pivotal in Kolkata and neighbouring constituencies. Many of them have criticized the TMC's handling of the RG Kar rape and murder case. Their discontent, Basu argues, could translate into anti-TMC votes if the BJP earns their trust. However, while the narrative may shift slightly with Samik's appointment, the deciding factor will be which party's electoral machinery proves more efficient on polling day. TMC still holds a significant edge in that regard, Basu believes. Ringing endorsement from seniors Former MP and party ideologue Swapan Dasgupta noted on X (formerly Twitter) that Samik's tone may resonate with voters the BJP has struggled to reach, whom he dubbed as the 'orphaned Bengali bhadrolok.' This was echoed by former state party president Tathagata Roy. Known for his outspoken nature, Roy told TOI that during the 2021 Assembly election, Hindi-speaking leaders of BJP alienated the Bengali middle class. He believes the party backed the wrong campaigners, leading to defeat. Roy sees Samik's appointment as a welcome signal to Bengal's intellectual class. Retelling forgotten histories With leaders like Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP built a strong cadre base but struggled to gain traction in southern Bengal, including Kolkata. In Samik Bhattacharya, a long-time resident of Salt Lake, an elite satellite town of Kolkata, the party sees an opening to breach that urban bastion. To Left-Congress voters, Samik's message is steeped in Partition-era history. He recalls how Jyoti Basu once defied the party line to support Syama Prasad Mookerjee's proposal in the Bengal Assembly, or how TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy's father appealed to the Hindu Mahasabha leader to ensure Malda stayed in India. These long-forgotten anecdotes are being revived by Samik, a skilled orator, to build bridges across ideological divides. He even hailed Jyoti Basu, a Left icon, as one of the architects of modern Bengal. Left pushes back The Left, however, is unimpressed. Eminent CPI(M) leader Dr. Fuad Halim outrightly rejected Samik Bhattacharya as a communal, anti-national figure when contacted by TOI. He questioned how the BJP leader could label an entire community as stone-throwers. Referring to BJP's past alliance with the TMC, Halim claimed Samik is actually a well-wisher of Mamata's party and dared him to publicly declare when the TMC became the BJP's enemy. He also dismissed any possibility of Left voters switching to the BJP. While the Left and Congress may have publicly rejected Samik's overture, their combined vote share, still around 10 percent, more than the TMC-BJP gap of 7 percent in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, remains critical. Winning over even a part of this bloc could prove decisive. Tathagata Roy argues that Bengal politics has always been bipolar, and if voters see the BJP as the only viable alternative to the TMC, they will naturally shift. Recalling his tenure as BJP state president, Roy said the party could never cross the 5 percent vote mark because only Mamata was then seen as capable of ending Left rule. TMC's response and the road ahead The ruling TMC has so far dismissed Samik Bhattacharya's strategy. Spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed the BJP, realising Suvendu Adhikari's communal approach has failed, is now testing a new narrative. Mamata Banerjee is expected to deliver her counterattack during the party's annual Martyrs' Day rally on July 21. Back in 2014, Samik became only the second BJP MLA elected to the Bengal Assembly. Recalling the moment, Samik said that he stood in stunned silence for 15 minutes, absorbing the significance of the occasion. He is no stranger to history-making, but the challenge before him now is far more complex. Mixed messaging, a problem? Some argue the BJP's messaging under Samik appears conflicted. On one hand, Suvendu Adhikari calls for strident Hindu unity. On the other hand, Samik Bhattacharya champions restraint and inclusion. At first glance, the two seem at odds. But Samik insists the party line is coherent. Suvendu speaks the public's mind, while he expresses the BJP's official stance. Professor Basu believes core BJP voters are unlikely to be swayed, as they see no viable alternative. He also sees Samik's attempt to unify party factions, including overtures toward Dilip Ghosh, as a significant move. If the old RSS mechanism is activated, they can come handy in elections, believe experts. Former Governor Tathagata Roy believes Samik's moderate persona, deep RSS roots and decades of party loyalty are key assets which can take BJP to new heights. Churn in place Samik Bhattacharya's approach is calibrated and high-stakes. His emphasis on identity, history and inclusion is a marked shift in tone for the Bengal BJP. Whether this softer narrative can coexist with Suvendu Adhikari's aggressive mobilization strategy and succeed in broadening the party's appeal is uncertain. But in a state known for its ideological churn and volatile swings, Samik's strategy has undeniably altered the tone of Bengal's political conversation.
The Print
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Brand Mamata Banerjee is losing its biggest support—Bengal's women voters
She went on to say that women should not be elevated as goddesses or deities, but celebrated as equals—human beings with inherent rights. Powerful words that made her post go viral on X and also resonated among all those who hail her as a powerful woman politician pushing back against the often misogynistic discourse within her own party and for introducing women-centric schemes, like Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyashree Prakalpa, and Rupashree Prakalpa. On the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March this year, Banerjee posted on X: 'There should never be just one day dedicated to women, for every single day belongs to every woman. Every woman owns the strength and power to shape her world, every day.' Among all the positives that contribute to the making of Brand Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister's championing of women's rights must figure at the very top. And with less than a year to go before the next round of Assembly elections in the state, that one positive trait is being questioned not just by the opposition parties but by the women she promised to safeguard. The timing of her statement was important. The mass anger in West Bengal over a woman trainee doctor's rape and murder in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9 August 2024 had exploded as huge protests in Kolkata and other parts of Bengal, and even outside the state. It was the first time Banerjee faced such public anger since coming to power on 20 May 2011. By the time Banerjee posted on X on 8 March, much of that anger had dissipated. Now, yet another incident of sexual violence inside a government-run law college, a gang-rape allegedly by students and a former Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing leader, has shaken Bengal. To make matters worse, her party, TMC, is making headlines for infighting and crude misogyny. What happened in Kasba On 25 June, a former student of the South Calcutta Law College in Kasba, Manojit Mishra, linked to TMC's student wing, the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, and two students of the college were arrested for the alleged gang rape of a law student inside the campus. The complaint filed by the survivor said the incident took place between 7:30 pm and 10:50 pm within the college premises. Based on the survivor's statement, the police have made four arrests in the case. There's more to the horror. As per reports, police found that the main accused, the TMC student wing leader, had allegedly shared a video of the rape in a closed group. Another female law student had reportedly left the college after being harassed by the same accused. She may be summoned for questioning soon, even as CCTV footage has reportedly confirmed the gang-rape. The footage collected from the college premises has recordings of around seven hours on June 25, from 3:30 pm to 10:50 pm. According to police, it showed the survivor being forcibly taken into the guard's room, confirming her statements in the written complaint. There are at least seven formal complaints and FIRs—apart from the latest one indicting the prime accused and two others for gang rape—that show the former student has multiple pending sexual assault cases registered against him across several police stations in south Kolkata including at Kasba, Gariahat, Kalighat, and Tollygunge police station. Soon after the news broke, Banerjee cut short her visit to Digha and returned to Kolkata after attending the Rath Yatra celebrations. The incident has brought back memories of the horror of the RG Kar rape and murder case and forced people back on streets in protest. Not just BJP workers and supporters, but women activists took to the streets of Kolkata, carrying placards and torches as part of a massive 'Kanya Suraksha Yatra' (Daughters' Safety March). While swift justice to the survivor and damage control—for both her personal brand and her administration—should have been Banerjee's topmost priority, she now left dealing with open displays of division and misogyny within her party. Also read: Don't just blame Yunus for Tagore house destruction. Bangladesh radicalism goes way back The war within Speaking on the Kasba case, Kalyan Banerjee, senior advocate at the Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court and TMC leader, said women should be aware of who they are going out with. 'Those who are roaming around with such people should understand whom they are accompanying,' he said. The TMC distanced itself from his comment and tweeted that it was made in his personal capacity. And MP Mahua Moitra wrote: 'Misogyny in India cuts across party lines. What differentiates the All India Trinamool Congress is that we condemn these disgusting comments no matter who makes them.' Kalyan Banerjee responded by taking a dig at Moitra's personal life. 'Mahua has come back to India after her honeymoon and started fighting with me! She accuses me of being anti-woman, that what is she? She has broken up a 40-year marriage and married a guy who is 65 years old. Did she not hurt the lady?' he asked. 'An MP who was expelled from parliament for breach of ethics is preaching me! She is the most anti-woman. She only knows how to secure her future and how to make money,' he added. That's not all. West Bengal BJP has shared a clip in which state Irrigation Minister Manas Bhunia can be heard saying: 'The moment there is a small incident in Bengal, they say 'look the state is gone, such destruction'… Yes, incidents happen and they happen within families too. Husbands are killing their wives, and wives are taking the help of their lovers to kill their husbands when they go on vacation. These are the crises of the society.' Bhunia has refuted the allegation and said he was not referring to the rape and that he strongly condemns it. The image dent Safety of women and curbing of misogyny are issues that are far more important than TMC and the BJP's war of words a year before elections. CPM leader Saira Shah Halim told me that it was the women of West Bengal who carried Mamata Banerjee to victory, and it was heartening to see Banerjee beat the formidable BJP in the 2021 assembly polls. 'It is the same Mamata Banerjee who shies away from meting out justice to women, be it the Park Street rape survivor, the women of Sandeshkhali, the RG Kar victim and now the Kasba survivor,' Halim said. She said the moot point is that Bengal's women are unsafe everywhere, inside government shelters, college campuses, and in many cases, it is men of TMC who are the culprits. 'When women leaders of her own party speak up, they are silenced by sexist slurs,' Halim said. Senior advocate Mitra Guha Pal said that law colleges are cradles of justice and now those have also become bastions of rampant lawlessness and sexual violence under the Mamata Banerjee administration. With less than a year to go before polls, Mamata Banerjee must confront the anti-women allegations facing her administration—both within and outside her party—if she hopes to win back the trust of her most important constituency – Bengal's women voters. Deep Halder is an author and a contributing editor at ThePrint. He tweets @deepscribble. Views are personal. (Edited by Ratan Priya)
New Indian Express
23-06-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Bengal to borrow Rs 4K cr for 25% DA pay to staff
KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has started preparations to approach the market this week to borrow approximately Rs 4,300 crore to pay the 25% Dearness Allowance (DA) to state government employees and pensioners, following a Supreme Court order issued on May 16. The state requires around Rs 10,425 crore to comply with the apex court's order by June 27; or else it may face contempt of court proceedings. On the contrary, complying with the order will push the state into a larger debt trap with a total outstanding debt of Rs 7,06,531.61 crore, as per the revised budget estimate for 2024-25. When the Mamata Banerjee government came into power in May 2011, the state had a total debt of around Rs 1.89 lakh crore. Over the last 14 years, the debt has nearly quadrupled due to inadequate mobilisation of financial resources and a significant jump in expenditure related to various welfare schemes, including 'Kanyashri', and 'Lakshmir Bhandar'. According to political observers, these schemes paid a huge dividend to Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress in the electoral politics both in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls by securing most of the women's vote. However, at the same time, these schemes, along with 'Swastha Sathi', somehow depleted the exchequer somehow.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
6.8L women under Lakshmir Bhandar getting pension
1 2 3 Kolkata: More than 6.8 lakh women who had crossed the age of 60 were now receiving old age pensions under Bengal govt's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, state minister for women, child development and social welfare Shashi Panja informed the assembly on Friday. Women getting financial assistance under the scheme automatically receive the same amount as old age pension on turning 60. Govt had so far disbursed Rs 63,615 crore to 2.2 crore beneficiaries under Lakshmir Bhandar, the minister said. Besides, 41,892 women were availing the Taposili Bandhu pension scheme and 6,166 women the Jai Johar pension scheme. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
TMC slams BJP over ‘sindoor-selling' remark
1 2 Kolkata: TMC targeted BJP 's state leadership on Monday over alleged derogatory remarks about women and the freezing of central funds. The criticism came at a press conference after leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari's comments about sindoor and bangles at a Sandeshkhali rally on Sunday. "Yesterday, Adhikari spoke about Lakshmir Bhandar and said that women shouldn't sell their sindoor and bangles at Rs 500-1,000," said state minister Shashi Panja. "Lakshmir Bhandar is a universal scheme for each and every woman of Bengal, unlike the exclusionary schemes in BJP-governed states," she added and went on to say: "They (BJP) are in office in a lot of states. Why doesn't Adhikari ask those govts to extend benefits and give Rs 3,000 to every woman?" The netas slammed other BJP seniors' misogynist comments, including remarks of Union minister Sukanta Majumdar and former state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh about CM Mamata Banerjee. On central funds, MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said: "Over Rs 1.75 lakh crore of Bengal's funds have been wilfully blocked by Centre." Netas also spoke of BJP's "manipulation" in the Sandeshkhali incident. "They cheated the women of Sandeshkhali by making them sign on blank papers, using those later to file fake complaints," Panja claimed. tnn
