Interview/ Sukanta Majumdar, west bengal BJP president
Sukanta Majumdar is a busy man. He is leading the BJP’s charge in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, where the party has targeted 30 seats. Despite falling sick the previous night, Majumdar, a botany professor at the University of Gour Banga, carried on with his scheduled morning routine.
The 44-year-old took questions from THE WEEK on the sidelines of a ‘chai pe charcha’ event in Hooghly. Excerpts:
Q/ How confident is the BJP in West Bengal?
A/ We are 100 per cent confident of winning every seat we won in 2019, and also of gaining some more seats.
Q/ How important is West Bengal in the context of the NDA’s 400 paar project?
A/ For that, the NDA has to win 50 more seats than it did in 2019. Last time we won 18 seats in West Bengal. This time our target is 30. We are extremely confident that we will touch that figure.
Q/ What do you have to say about the Sandeshkhali issue now that several videos contradicting the claims of alleged sexual exploitation have surfaced?
A/ Women have again taken to the streets and are now spending sleepless nights in Sandeshkhali because local police and Trinamool workers are threatening and torturing them. Those who had complained are now being threatened.
Q/ Some women BJP workers beat up a local Trinamool worker claiming he was involved in making one of the alleged “fake videos”. Do you think taking the law into their hands was right?
A/ There is no rule of law in West Bengal. No one is secure under this administration. If the government was obeying the laws, this (Sandeshkhali case) would not have happened. The police do not obey the law. They were not BJP workers. Common people beat him up.
The situation in Sandeshkhali is still dangerous. The Trinamool is using the police, especially civic volunteers, to pay money to women protesters to either suppress them or to [make them] contradict their statements about sexual exploitation by local Trinamool leaders. But the women will stand their ground.
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Q/ Has the CAA backfired in constituencies dominated by the Matuas, who migrated from Bangladesh and seem to now be apprehensive about the law?
A/ There is no question of the CAA backfiring. Electorally, it will prove to be very positive for us. People have realised that the opposition parties are lying about it. The CAA is an act to give citizenship. It will not take away anyone’s citizenship.
Q/ Is this Lok Sabha election in West Bengal a contest between Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi?
A/ It is a contest between the Trinamool and the BJP. But Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi are the biggest leaders of their parties. So, of course, they are the most important factors.
Q/ How do you maintain a cordial relationship with opposition leaders, especially Trinamool’s Dev and Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury?
A/ Dev is a very good human being. But it is not just him, I have a good relationship with everyone.