Islamic Jihadism In West Bengal

[G.Subramaniam]

The BJP has undoubtedly emerged as the surprise factor in the Jangipur Lok Sabha bypoll. The BJP’s vote share increased from 2.4 per cent in the 2009 Lok Sabha election to 10.06 per cent. On the other hand, the vote share of the Congress came down from 54 per cent in 2009 to 39 per cent.

Surprisingly, although the CPI(M) gave a tough fight to the Congress and came very close to winning the seat its vote share also dropped from 40.52 per cent in 2009 to 38.78 per cent. BJP candidate Sudhangshu Biswas bagged 85,887 votes and a vote share of 10.06 per cent.

Expressing his joy over the resurgence of his party in Bengal, an upbeat state BJP president Rahul Sinha said that it showed that the people were getting increasingly disillusioned with both the CPI(M) and the Congress/Trinamul Congress. “The people of Bengal are desperately seeking a political alternative. They have realised that like the CPI(M) even the Trinamul Congress government in the state has let them down. Moreover, the anti-people policies of the UPA has sparked a huge public anger. This explains the near-defeat of Abhijit Mukherjee,” he said.

Mr Sinha claimed that it had become evident from the results of the municipality polls and Assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls held in recent months that the vote share of every party has dropped barring that of the BJP. “There has been an erosion in the support base of every party. The BJP, however, has steadily increased its base and vote share. In 1991, the BJP’s vote share was over 11 per cent and after 20 long years, it has again risen to nearly 11 per cent,” he added.

Mr Sinha admitted that Mamata Banerjee’s “blatant Muslim-appeasement” was pushing large number of Hindus towards the BJP. “The chief minister should treat all communities equally but she is persistently wooing only one community. Ironically, even Muslims are now complaining that Didi is taking them for a ride by merely paying lip-service to their cause,” Mr Sinha said.

He also pointed out that for the Murshidabad campus of Aligarh Muslim University, over 100 acres of fertile land of poor farmers were acquired. “These farmers feel that the CPI(M), the Congress and the Trinamul Congress are equally responsible for this,” he added.



Asian Age