BJP's Bengal outreach, which will continue for the next two months – during the entire span of the election process – is being carried out systematically under the banner of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF), the think tank affiliated to the saffron party.
With electioneering heating up for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is running a massive outreach programme to connect with the Bengali intelligentsia and opinion-makers of West Bengal.
BJP's Bengal outreach, which will continue for the next two months – during the entire span of the election process – is being carried out systematically under the banner of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF), the think tank affiliated to the saffron party.
"There is a clear trend that many of the intellectuals and opinion-makers of West Bengal are gravitating towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision. We want to have a dialogue with them about the vision for Bengal and the challenges on its way. We want to place before them the vision for Bengal PM Modi is articulating," said Anirban Ganguly, Director of SPMRF and member of Policy Research Department of the BJP, while speaking to DNA.
Ganguly said, "PM Modi is extremely popular in Bengal. His development agenda and his governance narrative have created an impact among the people of West Bengal. His popularity is increasing in the state."
The outreach plan has been themed around the subject 'Modi for Bengal, Bengal for Modi'. "Bengal needs the support of PM Modi because he has a vision for Bengal," Ganguly explained.
Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta told DNA, "Our intention is to affect the local politics and actually reach out to the Bengali intelligentsias by both listing to their concern as well as inform them about the perspective. This initiative is a patient two way exercise of engaging with the Bengali intelligentsias in cities and small towns. It is a dialogue on the future of Bengal and future of India as well." Dasgupta along with Ganguly are driving the innovative campaign.
The BJP hopes that the outreach programme will contribute significantly for the success in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In fact, BJP insiders in West Bengal see it as building up for 2019 and beyond. Bengal, which elects 42 Lok Sabha MPs – the third after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra – features significantly in the BJP's scheme of things.
Ganguly said, "This Lok Sabha poll is going to be a resounding referendum on PM Modi. It is his leadership that people of India are looking up to. It is also required that the vision which PM Modi has articulated for Bengal must be percolated."
When DNA tried to find out what has prompted the BJP to run such a campaign in the heat and dust of elections, a number BJP leaders said some "vested interest parties" in Bengal are trying to create a narrative that the BJP is anti-intellectual and therefore through this campaign the party will reiterate the fact that it has a "great tradition of intellectuality".
The BJP-affiliated think tank's chief said Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Jan Sangh – the earlier avatar of the BJP – was a Bengali. Similarly, Acharya Debaprasad Ghosh – another Bengali intellectual – had served as the president of Jan Sangh for a long time, he said.
"The BJP always has its roots in Bengali minds. During the course of the campaign we will also emphasize on this very fact," he said.
Ganguly said once upon a time Bengal was the centre of India's nationalism. "Today in the same Bengal you see rampant lumpenism, widespread political violence and intimidation. The campaign will highlight the fact," he said.
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