West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar admits fault in ‘election management’

KOLKATA: Newly-appointed Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar made a humble beginning on Tuesday, admitting some lapses in “election management” during the 2021 Bengal assembly polls and saying sorry to those party victims of post-poll violence to whom leaders could not reach out.
Majumdar also urged BJP leaders who left the party to come back, adding he would have been happy to work with Babul Supriyo.
“People in Bengal tried to vote out the ruling Trinamool this time. We were not successful because of some faults in election management. We have to correct those mistakes. But our workers never shied away from fighting Trinamool,” Majumdar said in his first press meet at BJP’s Hastings office here.
Assuming charge at a juncture when Bengal BJP was faced with a reverse flow as a former Union minister and MLAs, among others, left the party unlike in the run-up to assembly polls, Majumdar adopted an inclusive approach to break away from the past.
“We have nothing against those leaving the party. It would have been better if they stayed with us. But leaders who left didn’t take the ideology with them. Our party thrives on the strength of dedicated workers committed to party ideology. I would urge them (those who left) to do a self-analysis and come back,” the new Bengal BJP president said.
Majumdar focused on post-poll violence and said it had assumed a new dimension. “There had been political clashes earlier also. There was no caste or community bias in the clashes. But things have been different this time. We can’t just brush aside the new phenomenon,” he said, pointing out how BJP’s Jalpaiguri MP Jayanta Roy came under attack in Rajganj when he tried to facilitate the return of party supporters from the minority community who had fled their homes during post-poll violence.
Majumdar came down heavily on Trinamool after slain BJP leader from Narkeldanga Abhijit Sarkar’s brother Biswajit called on him to complain that the family was still under threat. “We are opposed to the Talibanisation of West Bengal,” the state BJP chief said.
Majumdar welcomed Trinamool all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to Tripura. “I welcome him to Tripura. At the same time, I would urge him to visit Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and find out how the opposition behaved there,” he said.