For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been dominating the political scene in India since 2014 when it came to power, West Bengal remains the last big citadel to conquer. It has been a meteoric rise for the BJP in the state in the last two years or so. From being nowhere in the 2016 Assembly elections to becoming the main Opposition, or probably ascending to a winning position, the party’s emergence as a contender has been one of the more fastpaced political turnaround stories in any state of India.
However, CM Mamata Banerjee is still a considerable force to reckon with, considering her strong minority vote-bank in the state, which constitutes around 27 per cent of votes. Despite her government’s several failures and allegations of corruption against it, the media, both at the national level and state, is abuzz with finding a probable candidate in the BJP who will take on the current CM. It is not surprising that from the several names doing the rounds as chief ministerial candidates of the BJP, some of them are nothing more than figments of imagination or assumptions or mere political predictions.
With Sourav Ganguly’s name already on the forefront of such an imaginary list of the BJP’s CM candidates, another name has propped up, once again from nowhere. The name of Swami Kripakarananda, a doctor-turned-multi-talented monk of the Ramakrishna Mission has surprised many in the political circles, even in the BJP-RSS ranks, much to the embarrassment of all involved: the Sangh Parivar, Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Kripakarananda himself.
Now, the pertinent questions are: Do these speculations have any basis, or are these just ‘baseless rumours’ as claimed by Ramakrishna Mission, the BJP and the RSS top brass?
But if these are only ‘rumours’, from where are these rumours emanating? And what are the reasons behind them?
Swami Kripakarananda, whose name was Bhabotosh Chakraborty in his pre-monastic life, suddenly came into the media and social media limelight on the back of his outstanding singing talent in Indian classical music, which went viral just a couple of months ago. The saffronclad monk mesmerising the audience with his classical songs became a topic of discussion on Facebook. His vocal skills clubbed with his academic brilliance — he was one among state toppers in Class 10 and 12 Boards, and went on to become a successful doctor before turning to monkhood — is a story any filmmaker or writer would love as the subject for his next film or novel.
On top of that, Swami Kripakarananda is an orator par excellence. His lectures, available on YouTube, will inspire anyone aspiring to be successful in life. His lectures advise us to not only be successful but be courageous, wise and moral as well. He has termed our current education policy as outdated, rusted and lacking in moral elements, making it unable to guide our human resources in the proper direction. His views on the educational system of our country, which must have a combination of ancient Indian valuebased education and modern technological education, matches the views of the BJP-RSS ranks somewhere. His thoughts on India and the youth of the country have some similarities with the Sangh think tank, which might be the reason behind the speculation about his candidacy. Moreover, one section of the Bengali community and youth has always wanted an educated, sophisticated and visionary individual as their CM. Kripakarananda ji has all the requirements of an ideal leader.
However, Ramakrishna Mission has refuted the news as baseless. Swami Suvirananda, the general secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, has said on record, “The news is baseless and there is not an iota of truth in it. Ramakrishna Mission monks cannot take part in politics as instructed by Swami Vivekananda. It is unfortunate that the Mission is being dragged into the matter without any verification.”
Even close friends of Swami ji have rubbished the news as a pure figment of the imagination of some people. His batch-mate in NRS Medical College, Dr Gautam Ganguly told The Daily Guardian, “I know Bhabotosh for many years. Like him, I have also been a devotee of Ramakrishna Mission from a very early age. So, we have been in touch all the time. This news is baseless and there is no truth in it.”
Dr Ganguly also said that Swami Kripakarananda ji is currently posted in the Varanasi ashram of Ramakrishna Mission where he is serving the poor and helpless Covid-19 patients at the charitable hospital of the Mission. He informed that Kripakarananda is extremely embarrassed at the news of him aspiring to be the CM of West Bengal.
“He is a different kind of man altogether from the very beginning. He has been actively associated with the Ramakrishna Mission from his student days. We all knew he would be a monk one day. He is above any position and power.”
There are probably other reasons behind these speculative stories. The stories regarding unknown faces as the BJP’s CM candidate might have come from two fronts. The disgruntled elements in the state BJP, who have not been in good terms with the present leadership under state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, might have floated theses names to keep Ghosh on the back foot. One BJP state leader, talking on condition of anonymity, said that there are many leaders in the BJP who harbour ambitions of being the CM candidate and that they may have floated the names to thwart Ghosh from being the face of BJP to take on Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming state elections.
He said that the other possibility may be that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) wants to show that the state BJP does not have a quality leader with the same stature as Mamata Banerjee, who like the previous 2016 Assembly elections, would take the fight to a personal battle, by asking people to think of her as the candidate in all 294 seats. By coming up with such unknown names, the TMC may be trying to project and turn the leadership void in the BJP to its advantage. The Modi-Shah duo’s habit of coming up with unknown faces at the last moment is also encouraging people to add fuel to the fire in this situation.
A national-level RSS leader based in West Bengal refuted this leadership talk as baseless as he reminded the Sangh’s emphasis on collective leadership. Though distancing himself from internal politics of the state BJP, he said the BJP is a cadre-based party unlike the Congress or TMC and it can go to the polls without projecting anyone as the CM candidate.
At the same time, he said, “There is no dearth of leaders in any of our organisations. Is there any organisation as disciplined as the organisations of Sangh Parivar?”
“Our swayamsevaks hold many top positions right now. Have we imported Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Manohar Lal and several other leaders from outside? Our system has produced many patriotic leaders who can guide the nation on the right path,” he added. “Right now, we are more concerned about the plight of Hindus in West Bengal. It does not matter who will be the next CM; it is very important that the present government should go as there is no security of Hindus under this government,” he concluded.
One has to wait for a few more months to find out whether the BJP would select someone as the CM candidate before the elections or go to the elections collectively only to select someone after the victory as the next chief minister of West Bengal.
Biswajit Jha is a journalist-turned-social entrepreneur, columnist, and author. His book ‘Bike Ambulance Dada’ will be published by Penguin India very soon.