When it comes to books, Bengal prefers Left icons like Karl Marx, Che Guevara and Sitaram Yechury over Hindutva champions like Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Deendayal Upadhyaya and even Narendra Modi.
If book sales from the BJP and CPM stalls set up across the state during the festive season are any indication, Left icons have an edge over their Right-wing counterparts.
Multiple sources in the state BJP headquarters admitted that the party suffered a drubbing at the hands of the Left in terms of quality and quantity of book sales from their respective stalls.
“It is a fact that the book-selling machinery of our party is very unprofessional, from the number of stalls to the variety of titles on offer.... It is expected that Left parties would be more successful in selling books,” a BJP functionary, engaged in the process of setting up stalls and selling books during Durga Puja for the past few years, told The Telegraph.
Though neither the Left nor the BJP leaders could produce the list of books sold from the stalls or exact number of books sold, both had an interesting mix of books — mostly paperback editions — sold from their stalls.
A year after the BJP emerged as the main Opposition in Bengal — the Assembly polls were held in 2021 — the party managed to set up four to five book stalls in each of its 42 organisational districts, which took the total number to around 200 stalls in the state.
The CPM, with no representation in the Assembly, came up with around 1,300 stalls across the state.
One may argue that since the number of book stalls set up by the CPM was six times that of the BJP, the former will have a larger volume of sales, but stall level comparisons based on estimates provided by the two parties also made the CPM’s edge apparent.
BJP sources said they sold books worth Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh during the puja, which apparently is three to four times more than last year. But just two area committees of the CPM surpassed what the BJP grossed from across the state. The CPM Jadavpur area committee sold books of nearly Rs 6 lakh, and its Shibpur counterpart of Rs 2 lakh.
CPM sources said the party’s Nadia and Malda districts also clocked sales of Rs 8 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, respectively. The response encouraged the party to ask for detailed reports from all district committees on the number of stalls, sales and top draws.
CPM state secretary Md. Salim said the party will set up stalls in Kali puja, Jagaddhatri puja and Christmas.
“Stalls will also be set up during the Raas festival in Shantipur and Nabadwip of Nadia,” he said, adding that through book stalls they try to connect with people.
A Calcutta-based political analyst said comparison between the CPM and the BJP in terms of book sales was not fair because of many reasons.
“The CPM has been doing this for years.... The BJP is a new kid on the block. Being primarily a north Indian party, they do not have the experience of reaching out to people with books. Most books in their armoury are in Hindi, which need translation in Bengali,” he said.
He added that CPM leadership may feel happy with book sales, but the party is nowhere close to the BJP in terms of support base in Bengal.
The BJP’s Nandigram MLA and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also said sales at book stalls had little political significance.
Adhikari said he covered nearly 49 pandals in the state in the five days of Durga puja, and everywhere the turnout “was no less than a public meeting”. “That’s the kind of support the BJP has....One can’t quantify it from a few book stalls,” he said.
BJP sources said a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 20 years in public life called Modi@20 that cost a little over Rs 450 had few takers.
In contrast, Aniruddha Chakraborty, director of CPM's publishing house National Book Agency, said one of their top sellers was Sudhanva Deshpande’s Halla Bol: The death and life of Safdar Hashmi, priced at Rs 350.
Additional reporting by Subhasish Chaudhuri
