The scanty representation of Bengal in the Modi 3.0 government has triggered heartburn among BJP workers and leaders in the atate. At the same time, it has given arch-rivals Trinamool Congress the opportunity to deride the BJP’s Central leadership and to claim that the measly two posts of Ministers of State to MPs from the State showed the “anti-Bengali” attitude of the “bohiragotos” (outsiders).
Only two faces from Bengal — State unit president and Balurghat Lok Sabha MP Sukanta Majumdar and Bongaon MP Santanu Thakur — were sworn-in as Ministers of State (MoS) at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday evening.
Expectations were high that of the 12 newly-elected BJP MPs from the State, at least one would get a Cabinet rank and at least two to three will be inducted as junior Ministers.
The poor representation of Bengal in the Modi 3.0 Government also triggered taunts from the Trinamool Congress. Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien referred to the two leaders from the State who have been made MoS as “half-pant Ministers”.
“These half-pant Ministers will be ineffective. The BJP has insulted Bengal once again. It cares very little for Bengal. Making just two MPs from Bengal as junior Ministers exposes the true colours of the BJP,” said O’Brien. “These bohiragotos (outsiders) have no regard or understanding of West Bengal. They only know how to insult Bengal. The people of the State have understood this. That is why the BJP is down to 12 seats from the 18 it won last time,” he added.
Sukanta Majumdar, the president of the West Bengal unit of the BJP, is one of the new faces inducted into the Council of Ministers. The BJP may now appoint a new chief of its West Bengal unit to rejuvenate the party’s organisation in the State, where it was able to win in only 12 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, six less than its 2019 tally.
Thakur was already a Minister of State for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways in the last Government headed by Modi. He has been given the same portfolio in the Modi 3.0 Government as well.
Modi’s last Council of Ministers had four representatives from West Bengal – Thakur, Nishith Pramanik, John Barla, and Subhas Sarkar. Barla was not fielded by the BJP this time, while Pramanik and Sarkar lost the polls. Thakur could retain his Lok Sabha seat though.
Thakur, who was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2019, leads one of the warring factions of the All India Matua Mahasangh – the apex body of the Matuas who had migrated from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to India.
The BJP has been competing with the Trinamool Congress to turn the community into a loyal vote bank. The announcement about the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act just before the Lok Sabha polls helped Thakur retain his support base among the Matuas in Bangaon, one of the constituencies where the votes of the community can decide the fate of the candidate.
Many BJP leaders and functionaries said they were sorely disappointed with the under-representation of Bengal.
“The Central leadership has committed a grave error. Assembly elections are two years away and if it (the central leadership) is serious about winning in Bengal, it should have made one MP from Bengal a Cabinet Minister. That would have sent a clear signal to the people of the State that the BJP is serious about Bengal and cares about Bengal,” said a senior office-bearer of the party who did not want to be named.
“The Trinamool’s ‘half-pant Minister’ taunt is likely to become popular and will damage us politically. It will be used to strengthen the impression among the masses that the BJP central leadership is unfair to Bengal,” said the senior BJP office-bearer.
Since Sunday evening, Bengal BJP leaders have been looking up the representation of various States in the Modi 3.0 Government. And they have formed a strong impression that the party central leadership has not been fair to Bengal.
“Uttar Pradesh has 33 MPs, but has been given 11 berths while Maharashtra has 12 NDA MPs (BJP and its allies) but has got six berths. These choices are dictated by political compulsions and calculations, and those same compulsions and calculations should also have led to Bengal getting a good representation. We don’t know why that did not happen, but it is unfortunate and has left us disappointed. Our cadres will be demoralised,” said another senior party leader.
At least one MP who was expecting a place in the Union Council of Ministers has already started making restive noises. Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan has threatened to leave the party since he has not been “treated fairly”. Khan, a three-time MP, was with the Trinamool before he joined the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Khan won the Bishnupur Lok Sabha seat on a Trinamool ticket in 2014, and won the same seat as the BJP nominee in 2019 and this time as well.
“It was due to my joining the BJP that the party did well in Rarh Bengal in 2021. I got as many as seven people elected on BJP tickets to the State Assembly. I’ve worked hard for the party, but if the party is not fair to me, why should I stay in the party? The BJP in Bengal is being run by people who’ve never won an election. The party central leadership is promoting people who are dragging the party down in the State,” said Khan.