#dna edit: Divide and rule

In its drive to grab power in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has hit a new low. The latest row over the BJP president Amit Shah’s rash and unsubstantiated claims of terror links to the Trinamool Congress and the Saradha scam has clearly boomeranged. Shah has made a brazen attempt at rabble-rousing, taking the level of political discourse a few notches lower; the incident yet again proving that the BJP will not hesitate to play the politics of polarisation for narrow electoral dividends. Emboldened by the recent assembly victories, the BJP is now eyeing Bengal for its next electoral conquest in 2016.

In this context, Shah’s recent baseless allegations against the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee point to the party’s cynical ploy to divide and mislead the voter in Bengal. Last Sunday, while addressing an impressive gathering in central Kolkata, Shah had only one thing in mind: discredit Mamata Banerjee and her government. In alleging that a part of the Saradha scam money had been routed to Bangladesh to fund the activities of extremist elements in the neighbouring country, Shah inexplicably didn’t consider that his tirade was based on unsubstantiated claims. Playing with public sentiment, he was trying to cash in on the general discontent against Banerjee’s rule.

Only three days later, on Wednesday, Union minister Jiten Shah told Parliament that the investigating agency, NIA, has found no terror link in the multi-crore ponzi scam. With Jiten, the representative of the government, busting Shah’s claims, Banerjee — virtually cornered after the Burdwan blasts — has got a new lease of political life. More than the BJP’s disconnect with the government — evident in the competing and contradictory claims being harped on in the media — the issue that demands more than a serious thought is the BJP’s false propaganda.

That’s not all. Shah’s allegation at that same Sunday rally about the TMC resisting the NIA’s investigations into the blast, has also turned out to be baseless with the Union home minister Rajnath Singh expressing his satisfaction over the West Bengal police’s cooperation with the central agency; their working in tandem to uncover the truth. It would appear that Shah doesn’t mind bending the rules ever so often even if only to score political brownie points. It’s no less alarming that in this pursuit of temporary gains, Shah has conveniently forgotten that the process of maligning Banerjee can end up damaging India’s and West Bengal’s cordial relations with Bangladesh.

Such rash and contradictory statements emanating from the ruling party and the government it presides over, give cause for serious concern. It can be argued that the spate of disturbing statements made by senior BJP leaders and ministers — one after another — has cast a shadow over the BJP’s electoral promise of delivering good governance. Repeated flaunting of the communal card can only aid and abet extremist elements in other communities to spread the hate and terror.

The BJP must desist from walking that dangerous path in a communally sensitive state like West Bengal. True, Banerjee is often accused of minority appeasement — as has been the Congress party, which has always dangled the carrot of secularism to draw Muslim votes. However, what the BJP is indulging in can have serious implications and repercussions, at more levels than one. Besides, the BJP can’t ward off criticism by pointing to the Congress’s own sordid track record in political expediency. After all, it was the promise of alternative governance that had won the party this huge mandate in the Lok Sabha elections. Now is the time to stick to that electoral commitment.