Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal
Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal (or BJP West Bengal) is a state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Indian state of West Bengal. The headquarters is located in Kolkata. The ideology of the party is Hindutva.[1]
Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal | |
|---|---|
| President | Dilip Ghosh |
| Headquarters | 6, Muralidhar Sen Lane, College Square, Kolkata-700073, West Bengal |
| Newspaper | Kamal Barta |
| Youth wing | Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, West Bengal |
| Women's wing | BJP Mahila Morcha, West Bengal |
| Ideology | Hindutva |
| Colours | Saffron |
| Alliance | National Democratic Alliance |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 19 / 42
|
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 0 / 16
|
| Seats in West Bengal Legislative Assembly | 27 / 294
|
| Seats in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration | 0 / 62
|
| Website | |
| bjpbengal | |
History
The BJP came into being after a split from the Janata party. The prominent members of BJP had been the part of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founded by Syama Prasad Mukherjee. Jana Sangh was the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and was dissolved in 1977. In 2015, Dilip Ghosh was appointed by the party leadership as the president of the BJP West Bengal.[2][3]
1980s
The Bharatiya Janata Party contested the West Bengal assembly election for the first time in 1982.[4] The primary objective of the party was to create a nucleus for a future third force in West Bengal politics.[4] The party supported the call of the West Bengal government to hold the elections in March 1982.[5] The party contested on 52 assembly constituencies and got around 129,994 votes in the state.
In 1984 Lok Sabha election, BJP contested on 9 seats and got 101165 (0.4%) votes in West Bengal.
In the 1987 the party contested on 57 constituencies and slightly increased its votes to 134,867.
In 1989 Lok Sabha election, BJP contested on 19 seats and got 529618 (1.67%) votes in West Bengal.
1990s
The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded 291 candidates across the state in 1991 Vidhan Sabha election, and managed to increase its share of votes from 0.51% in 1987 to 11.34% (3,513,121 votes).[6][4] This was the first time BJP fielded such a large number of candidates in West Bengal assembly elections.[4] The party also fielded 42 candidates for the 1991 Lok Sabha election which took place simultaneously with the Vidhan Sabha election. The BJP got 3624974 (11.66%) votes in this election. Rather than focusing primarily on the Ayodhya issue, which was highlighted in the BJP campaigns across the country, the West Bengal BJP campaign concentrated on agitations against immigration from Bangladesh.[7] The campaign sought to invoke Bengali memories of Partition.[7] Whilst support for BJP increased amongst Bengali communities, its main stronghold in the state remained non-Bengali populations in Calcutta (Marwaris and Gujaratis).[7]
In 1996, both Assembly election and Lok Sabha election took place simultaneously, the party contested on 292 assembly constituencies and got 2,372,480 (6.45%) votes[8] and contested 42 Lok Sabha seats and got 2525864 (6.88%) votes across the state.[9]
In 1998, the BJP contested on 14 seats and won 1 Lok Sabha seat for the first time in West Bengal from Dum Dum. It got 3724662 (10.2%) votes.[10] Tapan Sikdar, who was serving as the West Bengal State President of BJP, won the Dum Dum constituency with 631,383 (50.7%) votes defeating nearest rival Nirmal Kanti Chatterjee of the CPI (M).[11]
In 1999, the BJP in an alliance with All India Trinamool Congress contested 13 seats and won 2 Lok Sabha seats and got 3,928,424 votes (11.13).[12] The two elected Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha were Satyabrata Mookherjee from Krishnanagar with 43.82% votes and Tapan Sikdar from Dum Dum with 51.59% votes.[13]
2000s
In 2001 Assembly election, BJP contested on 266 constituencies and got 1901351 (5.19%) votes throughout the state and 5.68% in seats contested.[14]
In the 2004 Indian general election, the National Democratic Alliance was completely decimated by CPI (M) led Left Front and INC led United Progressive Alliance. The BJP didn't won a single seat and its ally All India Trinamool Congress was reduced to just 1 Lok Sabha seat.[15] The BJP however managed to get 2983950 (8.06%) votes.[16]
In the 2006 Assembly election, BJP entered into an alliance with the All India Trinamool Congress and contested on 29 constituencies. The BJP got 760236 (1.93%) votes throughout West Bengal and 19.89% on seats it contested.[17]
In 2009 Indian general election, BJP candidate Jaswant Singh, with support from Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat getting a total of 4,97,649 (51.50%) votes. Across the state BJP got only 6.14% votes.
2010s
In 2011 Legislative Assembly election the BJP allied with GJM.
In 2014 Indian general election the BJP won only 2 seats. BJP candidates for the first time, returned runner-up in 3 seats and got 17.2% vote share throughout the state. This performance was better than BJP's previous best of 11.66% in 1991 elections. However the All India Trinamool Congress dominated the election winning 34 seats.[18]
In 2016 Assembly election the BJP in an alliance with GJM contested 291 seats and got 5,555,134 (10.16%) votes and created history by winning 3 assembly seats for the first time.[19]
There was a major political shift from the left to the right in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in West Bengal. The Bharatiya Janata Party, won 18 Lok Sabha seats out of the 42 constituencies with 23,028,343 (40.25%) votes. On 24 May 2019, The Statesman reported that BJP had made CPI-M a marginalised party and setting a strong challenge to the ruling Trinamool Congress.[20] The shift in the voting pattern was seen across the state.[21]
After the election the Government of India passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) in the Parliament, allowing a quicker route to citizenship to non Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries. The party hoped to benefit from the votes of the Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh.[22][23]
Post 2020
The BJP's Bengali booklet released in January 2020 claimed that the National Register of Citizens will be implemented to identify the undocumented migrants, but Hindus, Sikhs and other non-Muslims will be "shielded" by the Citizenship Amendment Act.[24][25]
Leadership
The West Bengal BJP has one president, twelve vice presidents and five general secretaries.[26] As of 2020 December the President of the West Bengal state branch of the party is Dilip Ghosh.
List of Past Presidents
| No. | Name | Term in office |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haripada Bharati | 1980-1982 |
| 2 | Dr. Vishnukant Shastri | 1982-1986 |
| 3 | Sukumar Banerjee | 1986-1991 |
| 4 | Tapan Sikdar | 1991-1995 |
| (2) | Dr. Vishnukant Shastri | 1995-1997 |
| (4) | Tapan Sikdar | 1997-1999 |
| 5 | Ashim Ghosh | 1999-2002 |
| 6 | Tathagata Roy | 2002-2006 |
| (3) | Sukumar Banerjee | 2006-2008 |
| 7 | Satyabrata Mookherjee | 2008-2009 |
| 8 | Rahul Sinha | 2009-2015 |
| 9 | Dilip Ghosh | 2015–incumbent |
Elected Members
Incumbent Member(s) of Parliament
- Members who won on from different parties but later joined Bharatiya Janata Party.
Incumbent Member(s) of Legislative Assembly
- Members who won on from different parties but later joined Bharatiya Janata Party.
References
- Tapadar, Pradipta. "TMC to counter BJP's Hindutva with 'Bengali Pride'". Rediff. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- "Dilip Ghosh appointed West Bengal BJP chief". The Hindu. PTI. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- "Dilip Ghosh re-elected West Bengal BJP chief". The Hindu. 16 January 2020.
- Pratap Chandra Swain (2001). Bharatiya Janata Party: Profile and Performance. APH Publishing. p. 194. ISBN 978-81-7648-257-8.
- The Annual Register of Indian Political Parties. Michiko & Panjathan. 1982. p. 108.
- Election Commission of India. Statistical Report on General Election, 1991 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal
- Christophe Jaffrelot (1999). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: 1925 to the 1990s : Strategies of Identity-building, Implantation and Mobilisation (with Special Reference to Central India). Penguin Books India. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-14-024602-5.
- Election Commission of India. Statistical Report on General Election, 1996 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal
- "General Election, 1996 (Vol I, II)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- "General Election, 1998 (Vol I, II)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India.
- "General Elections, 1998 - Constituency Wise Detailed Results" (PDF). West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- "General Elections 1999 – Overview of West Bengal : General Elections-2004". Press Information Bureau. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- "General Elections, 1999 - Constituency Wise Detailed Results" (PDF). West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- "West Bengal 2001". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- "Why did the NDA lose West Bengal?". rediff. 14 May 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- "General Election, 2004 (Vol I, II, III)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- "Election Commission of India - State Elections 2006: Partywise position in West Bengal". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 23 May 2006.
- "The rise of BJP in West Bengal | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- "It's 'Mamata wave' in West Bengal as voters reject Congress-Left alliance". Ritesh K Srivastava. Zee News. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- "West Bengal election results 2019: left veers into political oblivion". The Statesman, 24 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- "Analysis: In West Bengal, Left's vote-reduction will benefit BJP but to what extent?". The Hindu 23 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- Romita Datta, Why no one will douse the CAA fire in Bengal, India Today, 10 January 2020
- Kaushik Deka, Who is (not) a citizen?, India Today, 10 January 2020
- Amended citizenship law will shield Hindus when NRC will be rolled out, says BJP’s Bengali booklet, Scroll, 7 January 2020
- NRC next, says BJP’s Bengali booklet on CAA, The Indian Express, 7 January 2020
- Pooja Mehta (1 June 2020). "Major reshuffle in West Bengal BJP unit, Chandra Bose shunted out". zeenews.india.com. Kolkata: Zee News. Retrieved 2 June 2020.