Kolkata: The sudden ouster of Subrato Chattopadhyay, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state general secretary of organisation, who was also the righthand man of party chief Dilip Ghosh, has bolstered speculation of widening cracks in the party’s West Bengal chapter.
Many in the saffron party consider the move a significant one and believe it was essentially made to check the power and authority of state president Ghosh. A BJP leader told The Wire, “Of late, Subrato da’s style of functioning had created problems and some of the senior leaders were not okay with it. There could be a few more similar changes in organisation before the 2021 assembly election.”
Chattopadhyay is a long-time Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader and had held the party post for seven years. The Ghosh-Chattopadhyay duo are credited with strengthening party organisation over the years, ultimately propelling BJP into its current role as the principal challenger to the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state.
Chattopadhyay tweeted a short message after his removal, keeping reaction to a minimum.
“Subrato da’s removal, just a few months before the election, could invite trouble in party functioning. He was deeply connected with building the organisation from the down up and would handpick district leaders,” the BJP leader said.
Chattopadhyay was replaced by Amitava Chakravorty, an RSS pracharak from Bengal’s South Dinajpur district. Until April 2019, Chakravorty had held the position of party organisation secretary in Odisha. He returned to Bengal last year as the additional general secretary of organisation, and had been working as a subordinate to Chattopadhyay.
The Wire reached out to both Subrato Chattopadhyay and Amitava Chakravorty for their comments, but calls went unanswered.
Party insiders say that in all possibility, Chattopadhyay will not be given a post in the Bengal unit and might be appointed to another state. The post of general secretary of organisation, is usually meant for members of the RSS. RSS alone is responsible for appointments and removals when it comes to this post.
After Chattopadhyay’s removal, rumours have gained momentum that there could be a change of guard in Bengal BJP. The central leadership is reportedly not happy with the constant infighting.
BJP leaders at a Karyakarta Baithak with Amit Shah at Kolkata. Photo: Twitter/@DilipGhoshBJP
Yet Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP’s national general secretary and central observer to West Bengal, appeared intent upon clearing the air. Vijayvargiya told news agency PTI, “I want to categorically say that West Bengal BJP will fight the assembly election with Dilip Ghosh as its state president. There is no question of replacing him.”
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Prior to this, in a surprising turn of events, Ghosh had dissolved all the district committees of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). The district committees had been reshuffled and new appointments made just a week before it was dissolved, indicating the suddenness of the decision.
“Due to some reasons, till any further announcements, all district presidents of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and respective district committees are being dissolved from today. Till further announcements, their duties will be taken up by the respective district presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the BJP statement read.
BJP MP and BJYM state president Saumitra Khan was unaware of the decision made by Ghosh. The day after the decision was announced, Khan left the BJYM WhatsApp group and resigned from his position in the BYJM. After a few hours, he rejoined the WhatsApp group and ostensibly remains BJYM state president.
Khan broke ranks with TMC and joined BJP before the parliamentary election last year. He contested and won from the Bishnupur Lok Sabha seat.
“Khan had formed the district committees without consulting any senior leaders, not even Dilip Ghosh. This is unacceptable. Bypassing party rules won’t be tolerated in BJP,” a close aide of Ghosh told The Wire.
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The rift in the saffron party’s Bengal unit also showed over Durga Puja celebrations. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself inaugurated the puja organised by a faction of the state BJP, state party chief Ghosh and Subrato Chattopadhyay had both been missing from the event.
The puja was primarily organised and supervised by Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy. Roy’s close aide Sabyasachi Dutta, who like him switched allegiance from Trinamool to BJP last year, personally looked after arrangements.
A party insider told The Telegraph newspaper, “Dilip da and Subrato da are seemingly unhappy with how Kailash ji has been calling the shots for the Puja. In fact, Mukul da’s involvement also didn’t go down well with them. The idea to organise a full-fledged puja came from Kailash ji himself, but neither Dilip da nor Subrato da were consulted for opinion. All of this has made the tussles between the Dilip-Subrato and Kailash-Mukul camps more palpable.”
Bengal BJP is primarily divided between these two camps. After joining BJP in late 2017, Roy was made head of the party’s election management committee in West Bengal. With the 2018 panchayat poll and 2019 Lok Sabha election’s successes, he has consolidated his position in the party.
Roy has played an instrumental role in the defections of many MLAs, MPs and leaders from TMC to BJP. In the last one year, Roy’s camp has grown powerful as many close to him have been given important party positions.
This has irked the party’s original guard who believe compromises have been made with the BJP’s image in accommodating turncoats, according to political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty.
Another senior BJP leader from Bengal, on condition of anonymity, told The Wire, “Party factionalism is evident and there is no way to deny it. A continuous tussle is going on between the old BJP and new BJP. We were really concerned but now there is hope as the central leadership has intervened. Hopefully, we will fix all impending issues soon.”