New Delhi: In the recent rural elections in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined hands with Maoist-backed outfit Adivasi Samanvay Manch (ASM) in the tribal-dominated districts of Jhargram and Purulia, reported the Hindu. This unlikely alliance helped it to perform better than expected. State intelligence officials confirmed that outlawed Maoists had made an appeal to vote for the independent candidates of ASM.
“The ASM is backed by a powerful tribal organisation – Bharat Jakat Majhi Pargana Mahal. The Maoists, too, made an appeal to back ASM,” veteran CPI(ML) leader Niranjan Bera said.
In both areas, the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) performance had dipped.
Jhargram, compared to the state average of 6%, has nearly 30% tribal population. BJP secured 42% seats here, far higher than its state average of 18% of contested seats. The TMC, on the other hand, got only 48% of seats here as compared to its state average of 66% at the gram panchayat level.
Similarly in Purulia, with 20% tribal population, the BJP secured 33% and the TMC bagged only 43% seats.
TMC suffered losses in at least three gram panchayats – Bhulaveda, Banshpahari and Shimulpal – in Binpur II block, due to the seat adjustments between BJP and ASM.
BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh admitted to adjusting a seat with ASM in one block of Jhargram, on the Bengal-Jharkhand border, while denying any formal understanding with them. “We did not put up candidates where they (ASM) did, as we both were fighting the TMC to limit vote division. We know them and may work together in future,” he said.
He also quipped, “In earlier elections the TMC performed well in the area. Did they work with the Maoists?”
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on May 17 had accused the BJP of jointly operating with the Maoists. The TMC chief had said that she could not believe that the BJP was operating with Maoists. She added, “The BJP that conducted operations against the Maoists in Chattisgarh, is operating with the help of Maoists in Bengal”.
She had also alleged that the BJP was bringing in miscreants from neighbouring Jharkhand and Bangladesh to cause unrest in Bengal during the polls.
Ghosh had then rubbished her claims as “false propaganda” and had said that the TMC itself had taken Maoists’ help in coming to power, even when Mukul Roy, the former TMC leader, who is now with the BJP, spent considerable time in Jhargram before the elections, and also met the family members of Chhatradhar Mahato.
Mahato was arrested in 2009 by the CPI(M) government for alleged links with the Maoists. He was later instrumental in developing a base for the TMC in the area, though he was never granted amnesty.
The BJP also had a record 500 Muslim candidates in West Bengal rural elections as compared to 100 last time, the Indian Express reported. Ghosh had said, “The party will repeat this strategy in 2019 general elections, depending on the winnability of the candidates”.
According to a Deccan Chronicle report, a senior state BJP leader said that these polls were a ‘litmus test’ for the BJP before the 2019 general elections. He said that Amit Shah treated the Bengal rural polls as ‘quarter-final match’ before 2021 assembly polls and it was the first time that BJP has been elected to the gram panchayat in every district of the state.