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Trinamool can never be part of NDA again, says BJP's Sukanta Majumdar

The BJP leader told DH that the party is ready for the panchayat elections next year
Last Updated 21 September 2022, 03:21 IST

The BJP in West Bengal will be face to face with the Trinamool in the panchayat elections in 2023. However, It couldn’t match Trinamool’s strong performance in the 2021 state assembly elections. Sukanta Majumdar, who completes one year as state’s BJP president, told DH's Mohammed Safi Shamsi that the party is ready for the panchayat elections next year, and for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well. There is no chance of Trinamool becoming a part of the NDA, again, he adds. Edited excerpts:

You have completed one year in office as the party’s state president. How is the BJP doing in West Bengal?

I consider myself an examinee, rather than considering myself an examiner to assess how we performed in the last year. When I started my journey, fear psychosis gripped most of our workers. This was due to hooliganism (allegedly leashed by supporters of the political opponent), and the amount of violence that had erupted after 2 May (the day of the results) was unprecedented. Most party workers had detached themselves from the party. Before me, Dilip da (Dilip Ghosh, former state president) had also tried to bring workers back to the field.

Before completing one year, we undertook Nabanna Abhiyan (march to the state secretariat). The BJP workers, for the first time, are on their feet, filled with enthusiasm. I feel people and my co-workers are the right people to judge my performance.

Are you ready to face the panchayat elections next year, and the following Lok Sabha elections in 2024?

I feel so. We are ready to fight Trinamool at the booth level. We have to make our organisation a little stronger, rest, everything is ready. We are ready for panchayat elections and will need one or two months to put together the overall structure (to initiate campaigns). Obviously, after 2023, we have 2024 in mind. The central ministers have been assigned duties, and they are coming to West Bengal regularly for doing the needful. The panchayats elections will give a boost to our organisation, and help us face Trinamool in 2024.

What are the party’s strengths, weaknesses, and points of concern, in West Bengal?

Our party workers are very emotional. This is a good thing because they love the party. Our workers don’t work to avail any benefits, and fight for the party without self-interest. This is our strength. Weaknesses, if any, are for our internal analysis.

The concerns? What's our strength is also at times a concern. The party workers are emotional, and at times it becomes detrimental when they think with their hearts instead of their head.

The Trinamool leadership is seeing things in ‘pairs’ – like the prime minister and home minister, good people, and not-so-good people – for example in the RSS. Even local leaders in the BJP are considered to be different. What’s your take?

This is not new. When Vajpayee-Ji was our leader, at that time it was said, Vajpayee-Ji is very good, but the party is not. Then it was about Advani-ji and Modi-ji. Now, it’s Modi-ji and Amit Shah-Ji. This is a splitting game, and our opposition has been using this trick for several years now. The weapon has now turned blunt, and it will no longer work. Modi-ji doesn’t need any kind of certification, not from Mamata Banerjee, to say.

What are your expectations for the 2024-Lok Sabha elections? ‘Abki Baar', how many seats?

Abki Baar 25 paar (out of 42 seats from the state). That’s our target.

The Trinamool has been a part of the NDA, once. There’s nothing that’s impossible in politics. Do you see, even if a remote possibility, of the Trinamool becoming a part of the NDA, in the near or distant future?

Now, I think it’s not possible. The relationship between the Trinamool, and the BJP is such that it’s not possible. Our workers have sacrificed their lives for the party. This is non-negotiable. There is no chance of compromising.

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(Published 20 September 2022, 20:39 IST)

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