We failed to convince voters, says Bengal BJP

Kolkata: The bypoll results on Thursday showed how Bengal BJP failed to capitalise on its impressive Lok Sabha result just six months ago, as the saffron party’s huge margins fast depleted in favour of Trinamool Congress, particularly in Uttar Dinajpur’s Kaliaganj and Kharagpur Sadar. BJP also wasted some of the opportunities built by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.
During campaigning, BJP leaders failed to gauge the impact of keeping 12 lakh Hindu refugees out of the final NRC list, and also the downturn in the economy.“Assam and Bengal have two different contexts. We couldn’t explain the difference to the voters,” said BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya.
The debacle has prompted state BJP president Dilip Ghosh to call a meeting next week. “This is a big setback for us. We couldn’t read it. We thought the situation was in our favour. But it seems that Trinamool was able to capitalise on the NRC scare. But in many booths, police and goons have rigged elections,” he said.
Former Bolpur MP Anupam Hazra said: “There is a divide between veterans and newly inducted members of the party. That has stopped the organisation in utilising its optimal strength. It has been a constant feature in almost all the districts. There is still time before the 2021 elections and the party needs to distribute responsibilities to the right candidate from the mandal level.”
Even BJP leader Mukul Roy, who was active in crafting BJP’s Lok Sabha poll strategy, was hardly seen other than in Karimpur.
BJP’s debacle in two seats — Basirhat Lok Sabha and Karimpur assembly — throws up a pattern. In both these seats having a high Muslim population, counter-polarisation of the majority community did not work like BJP had hoped for. State BJP leaders will have to examine how far the majority community consolidation would work in the minority-dominated 100-odd assembly seats in West Bengal.