THE WAY AHEAD FOR THE BJP IN BENGAL ... 2

THE WAY AHEAD FOR THE BJP IN BENGAL ... 2

The Bharatiya Janata Party which is the reincarnation of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founded by Dr. Syamaprasad Mookerjee has now been voted to power in West Bengal with a massive absolute majority crossing the two-thirds mark in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Naturally the expectations are high of the government which it will have to live up to or risk being cast away five years from now. The exiting government of the All India Trinamool Congress was so corrupt, tyrannical and antinational that the people have rejected it lock stock and barrel, pinning their fondest hopes of the resurrection of West Bengal at the hands of the nationalist party that the BJP supposedly is. 

There has been no governance in the last 15 years and where governance has been, there has been malgovernance. For a decade and a half West Bengal has been destroyed and Hindus treated like dirt in a Hindu-majority state. All this will change is the hope of the electorate that voted BJP to power. Tall talks have been delivered, grand promises made during the election campaign by the BJP national and provincial leadership. Those promises will have to be fulfilled to the letter. Otherwise, the BJP's win will be a one-off affair here in Bengal which will reject it next time around in a manner that will with changing demography make it impossible for a return. 

Giant-killer Suvendu Adhikari has been appointed Chief Minister. It remains to be seen how he performs. Obviously, the Centre will remote-control his moves and local-control him as well, reducing his Chief Ministerial decision-making autonomy somewhat as is typically the case with 'double engine' governments. Performance is the key whichever way it may be achieved but transparency in governance must be the means to achieve it. Else, the ouster could take place in the coming election in 2031 which will be disastrous for the Hindus.

Written by Sugata Bose