Kolkata: Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari attributed the party’s poor performance in Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal to lack of support from the minority community, asserting that ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ was unnecessary and proposing instead ‘Hum unke saath jo humare saath’ (we are with those who are with us).
Addressing the extended session of the BJP’s state executive committee, Adhikari also dismissed the need for a Minority Morcha of the party.
“I have spoken for nationalist Muslims as well. We all used to say ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, but I would not say this anymore because I think it should be ‘Hum unke saath jo humare saath’ (we are with those who are with us)… no need for Minority Morcha,” he said.
Minorities comprise nearly 30 per cent of the electorate of West Bengal.
In 2014, the BJP’s slogan was ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, and in 2019, it was ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’.
Adhikari claimed that during the Lok Sabha polls, “Hindus were not allowed to vote by Jihadi goons of the TMC in many areas.”
“In West Bengal, free and fair elections are not possible. The Jihadi goons of the TMC will not allow it. Free and fair elections are only possible by implementing the Disturbed Areas Act in the state. We don’t want to capture power in the state through backdoor implementation of the President’s Rule.
“We will come to power when we win elections with the people’s mandate. But for that, free and fair elections have to be ensured,” he said.
The extended session of the BJP state executive committee comes days after the party lost three assembly seats to the TMC in last week’s bypolls, marking another disappointment for the BJP following its poor performance in the parliamentary elections, in which its tally fell to 12 from 18 in 2019.
Reacting to Adhikari’s remark, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “BJP is trying to find excuses to pacify their own cadre base following the Lok Sabha debacle in the state.”
PTI