State BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said his party had never demanded separate statehood for north Bengal but quickly added that the BJP was sympathetic to identity-based movements as they reflected lack of development in the region.
Ghosh’s comments, made during his first visit to the region after the statehood demand was voiced by some leaders in the BJP, suggested that the party was treading with caution on the issue.
“We are not in favour of any further division of Bengal. But simultaneously, one cannot ignore the Gorkhaland movement, the Kamtapur movement and some other movements organised in north Bengal for decades now owing to lack of development in the region. People here have voted for our party in large numbers, and thus, the elected representatives have voiced their demand. There is no abnormality in it,” the state BJP chief told journalists.
Over the past few weeks, the issue of separate statehood, which has been time and again flagged by organisations and parties representing the Rajbanshi community, has found an echo in BJP MPs John Barla and Jayanta Roy and MLAs such as Shikha Chatterjee.
The Rajbanshi people account for over one-third of north Bengal’s population.
Some political observers think that the BJP is playing the statehood card to woo this influential vote bank and create unrest in the region to embarrass chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has this time kept the north Bengal development portfolio with herself.
Although the statehood demand evoked sympathetic responses from north Bengal leadership of the BJP, the party’s state leaders had initially delinked themselves from it and said that the party never articulated any such demand.
However, Ghosh’s comments on Saturday indicated that the state unit may have done a rethink on the issue.
It also in a way lent credence to a view in the saffron camp that the party’s north Bengal leaders would not have raised such a demand publicly without the consent of its national leaders.
“One cannot forget that before the elections, a number of central leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, were in close contact with some prominent leaders of the Rajbanshi community who have been principal proponents of the demand. So, there seems to be a pattern in which the statehood issue is being played out by the party,” said a BJP source.
“Dilipda’s comments hint that the party would not be directly swatting away the statehood demand anymore,” added the source.
Ghosh said he understood the rationale behind the demand for statehood.
“Had there been adequate development, people wouldn’t have raised such a demand. It is evident that a section of people are exploring options to stay out of Mamata Banerjee’s rule.… While some are moving to other states for jobs, others are raising the (statehood) demand,” he said.
Although Ghosh underscored that the BJP does not want any division of Bengal, he added that the party was in favour of smaller states and was instrumental in the creation of new states in the country.
“In due course, if any move is made in this regard, it would be done only in consultation with residents of this region. We cannot say what will happen in the future,” the state BJP unit president said.
