BJP wants to stop its Trinamoolisation in Bengal. Why it's easier said than done

The BJP promised West Bengal's electorate a break from extortion, cut money and syndicates, which it said flourished under the Trinamool Congress. But with its own workers now facing similar allegations, the BJP's biggest challenge is ensuring it does not become what it set out to replace in Bengal.

Promises can come back to bite, and the BJP is learning that in West Bengal. Months after sweeping to power in Bengal for the first time, relegating the once-dominant Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the Opposition benches, the BJP risks becoming the very party it defeated after criticising it for patronising individuals associated with criminal activities.

The BJP's victory was built, in large part, on a promise to dismantle the networks of syndicates, extortion and cut-money that it alleged the TMC built up during its 15 years in power. But, sections of the BJP in Bengal, particularly at the grassroots, are now being accused of using the very networks they had vowed to dismantle.

Complaints against BJP members over alleged tolabaji (extortion) and collection of cut money are mounting, putting the party in an uncomfortable position. Senior BJP leaders, including the party's state president Samik Bhattacharya, have raised the alarm, warning that while the state's entrenched networks of extortion and cut-money would not disappear overnight, that did not give saffron party workers a licence to engage in the same practices as their Trinamool Congress counterparts.

Kolkata-based political analyst and author Sayantan Ghosh told India Today Digital that the BJP won the election in a "wave driven by anti-TMC sentiment, not because of their ground organisation". Therefore, he said, "the BJP now needs local strongmen and their networks to govern effectively." He argued that "co-opting is needed for the BJP" because without these networks, particularly at the panchayat level, it "will not be able to run the government".

He warned that the BJP appeared comfortable with a "TMC minus Mamata Banerjee" model and had "no problem with the Trinamoolisation or Trinamoolification of BJP."

INSTANCES OF BJP PARTY MEMBERS ACCUSED OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

Complaints against BJP members over alleged extortion and collection of cut money are mounting. There have been at least six such cases in one month.

August 14: Vice-president of BJP's Tufanganj mandal committee No 4, Biswajit Talukdar, was arrested for allegedly abducting and assaulting the son of a local businessperson over extortion money, reported The Telegraph.

August 10: A monk named Keshabananda Maharaj complained to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari that BJP MLA Rekha Patra had occupied his property since March, allegedly paying only two months' rent, reported Anandabazar Patrika.

August 9: A South Dum Dum promoter alleged that goons who had switched allegiance from the TMC to the BJP beat him with a gun butt and demanded Rs 5 lakh for a construction project, reported The Indian Express.

August 8: A BJP leader and his followers were accused of severely beating and threatening to kill a law clerk of the Land and Land Reforms Department for not withdrawing five lakh rupees as demanded, reported Uttarbanga Sangbad, a local outlet.

August 6: Four BJP workers in Bankura's Bishnupur were named in an FIR after a promoter alleged that they vandalised his office and demanded Rs 5 crore, reported The Times of India. They were arrested on August 13.

August 5: BJP leader Rakesh Maji was arrested for allegedly extorting money from sand-laden trucks in West Burdwan's Jamuria, reported The Telegraph.

July 30: A woman accused the BJP's Jadavpur MLA, Sharbori Mukherjee, of facilitating the forcible takeover of her shop, reported PTI.

These are just some of the reported cases. The state unit of the BJP has received far more complaints of extortion, both verbally and in writing, from across West Bengal, The Indian Express reported. Allegations of such criminal and unlawful practices have also been raised at Janata Darbars held by CM Adhikari.

WHAT'S BJP DOING TO PREVENT MEMBERS FROM ENGAGING IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES?

Credit where credit's due, there has been a concerted effort from the party's top brass to crack down on party functionaries engaging in criminal activities. The Bengal BJP has taken disciplinary action against its own ranks amid these allegations of extortion, corruption and political interference. On August 10, the party suspended 25 workers and issued show-cause notices to around 300 others over alleged extortion and anti-party activities, reported news agency PTI.

On August 1, BJP' state president Bhattacharya acknowledged that extortion had not been eradicated after the saffron party came to power.

"If I say on behalf of my party that we have been able to eradicate extortion from everywhere, then I will be making a false claim," Bhattacharya said, adding that some people accustomed to making easy money through syndicates had entered the BJP and that the party was trying to control such tendencies.

On August 8, after BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal held meetings with Bengal leaders over extortion and other anti-party activities. During the meeting, Bhattacharya said that the party would have "zero tolerance" for indiscipline, while acknowledging that deviations could not be completely eliminated, reported The Times of India.

At a recent organisational training programme, on August 18, Bhattacharya warned BJP legislators and district presidents against behaving like "chief ministers" in their constituencies. He cautioned them against activities such as measuring flats, locking shops or houses and interfering in local affairs. "Do not do anything that makes people unable to find a difference between you and the Trinamool Congress," he was reported as saying by news agency PTI.

On August 4, Bengal minister Agnimitra Paul also warned that the BJP workers involved in extortion would face action. "We will not say one thing in public and another in private. We are not like the previous government. What we say, we do," she said.

WILL BJP BE ABLE TO PREVENT ITS OWN TRINAMOOLISATION?

The message from the Bengal BJP's top brass is clear. Activities such as extortion and corruption, long associated with the TMC's 15 years in power, will not be tolerated.

But Kolkata-based author and political analyst Sayantan Ghosh told India Today Digital that enforcing this writ is easier said than done. Dismantling the entrenched local networks that sustained these practices under the TMC could also weaken the BJP's ability to govern at the grassroots, underlined Ghosh.

Ghosh said that the BJP's victory over the TMC was not driven by a strong grassroots organisation. He pointed to reports that the BJP could not appoint booth agents in several polling booths across the state. "The BJP won this election not because of their ground organisation," he said, describing it instead as "a wave election" driven by strong anti-TMC sentiment. The BJP now has to build that grassroots presence while running the government, he added.

That creates a dilemma. "This grassroots organisation is difficult [in West Bengal] without these strongmen and their networks," Ghosh said. He added that "former TMC workers have been shifting towards the BJP not merely out of opportunism, but because the saffron party understood that the government at the grassroots won't function properly without these people."

For years, the TMC's network of local strongmen and political middlemen delivered governance. Getting rid of that could be difficult to avoid for the BJP. "The BJP will have to run the government... But they will also have to run the organisation... At the panchayat level, government orders alone may not be enough... You can send something, but you will not be able to implement that thing," Ghosh told India Today Digital.

Ghosh also questioned if the BJP could dismantle the entrenched networks of extortion and cut money it has promised to eliminate. "I do not think that at this point they are in a situation where they can dismantle these networks," he said, adding, "I don't think the BJP is anyway trying to dismantle this network as well."

"Co-opting is needed for the BJP because, without that, the BJP would not be able to run the government," Ghosh said.

On whether the BJP risks becoming like the TMC it defeated, Ghosh said the party's willingness to accommodate sections of the TMC was particularly revealing. "The problem is the BJP's outlook towards TMC leaders," he said, arguing that the party appeared comfortable with the concept of "TMC minus Mamata Banerjee."

Several versions of "TMC minus Mamata Banerjee" have emerged since May, from Ritabrata Banerjee's breakaway TMC faction at the state level to the group of TMC MPs who split from the party and joined the unknown party, the NCPI.

"Many of them have corruption allegations. Many of them have a history of a corrupt past. But BJP co-opted them," Ghosh said. He argued that this suggested the BJP had "no problem with the Trinamoolisation or Trinamoolification of BJP" and was "very okay with it" and "welcoming all the TMC leaders."

So in this situation, how can the BJP prevent itself from becoming a new version of the TMC?

That might depend on whether it can build alternative local power structures based on constitutional and statutory institutions.

The BJP swept to power promising to dismantle the very system it now risks inheriting. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will a corruption-free West Bengal be built in a day, or even 100 days. But dismantling that system would have to be a priority for the BJP, if it wants to keep its poll promise.

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