Our mission is to establish the rule of law and end the racket of violence ::: RSS
RSS members and leaders have been keeping track of any information related to violence, including the capturing of Trinamool Congress offices or threats to and attacks on Opposition leaders and are immediately acting upon such activities with the help of police.
BJP workers tear off banners depicting the social welfare schemes of the previous government near Curzon Gate in Burdwan last week. (snap - The Telegraph)
"We are actively working to prevent such acts. We are receiving many calls from different corners of the state, and our swayamsevaks have been preventing troubles by coordinating with the police.
Our mission is to establish the rule of law and end the racket of violence and extortion in the state," said Jisnu Basu, the Sangh’s purba kshetra prachar pramukh.
The RSS has been spearheading initiatives to ensure the rule of law in Bengal in the aftermath of the Assembly polls, sources in the ideological fountainhead of the BJP said.
Sources said RSS activists had launched a silent drive to prevent post-poll violence, looting and the shifting of extortion rackets to another group.
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| the beleaguered leader |
The RSS has been spearheading initiatives to ensure the rule of law in Bengal in the aftermath of the Assembly polls.
Sources said RSS activists had launched a silent drive to prevent post-poll violence, looting and the shifting of extortion rackets to another group.
"We are ready to provide legal support even to Trinamool leaders if they face violence. We want to prevent this practice, else another chapter of extortion and violence will emerge," added the senior RSS leader.
Basu himself prevented at least four such attempts after the election results were out.
"A club belonging to Trinamool leaders in Salt Lake was captured soon after the election results, as a group of people had put up BJP flags there. I personally went there, removed those flags, and freed the club," Basu said. (The Telegraph reports)
Multiple sources in the RSS said that not only in Calcutta, but also in several districts, the RSS had been keeping surveillance and taking up such issues with the state unit to ensure that there were no such moves.
After the change in power, a Trinamool leader from Barasat in North 24-Parganas contacted an RSS leader, informing him about an attack by alleged BJP workers.
"I personally contacted the local police and asked them to take immediate action. The senior police officer expressed surprise over why I had called him to save a corrupt Trinamool leader. He later ensured that there was only an agitation," the RSS leader said.
The BJP leaders said that since the party’s victory, it had become their responsibility to stop violence and send a message across Bengal that not only the power structure but also the political culture of the state had changed.
BJP leader Sajal Ghosh said: "Just because TMC and its leader did not have humanity as was the case in 2021; that does not mean ... we will also not have"
In terms of governance, new chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has started his part of the job.
In contrast to the Congress statesmen like B C Roy, Marxist bhadroloks Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and the 'mercurial street-fighter' from Kalighat Mamata Banerjee who came before him, Suvendu is expected to provide a Delhi-driven, unabashedly majoritarian style of administration.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, and other party leaders repeatedly said that Trinamool workers disguised as BJP supporters had carried out the attacks after the election results.
Bhattacharya also said that the police would take action if anyone was found extorting people in the name of the BJP.
"RSS is not directly involved in politics. So, it is easier for the outfit to get unbiased reports from the ground. BJP workers themselves were victims of post-poll violence in 2021. Therefore, it was not easy to stop them. But we somehow controlled it. Otherwise, there would have been a bloodbath," said a senior BJP leader.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Sinha on Tuesday admitted that if the party had not prevented such attempts, there could have been large-scale violence against Trinamool workers.
Shall we live by fear of doubts and possibility of defeats?
In his birthday greetings to PM Narendra Modi; his long time friend and Home Minister Amit Shah had said:
"In every Indian's heart lives a surprising/unique (adbhut neta) leader".
Modi admirers and those tracking his politics closely say Modi has rather always used the crises (or challenges) to reinforce his political position and offer himself to the people as a "strong Hindu leader" in a country with about one billion Hindus in a population of 1.40 billion (140 crore).
In 2023, one Naga BJP lawmaker and state minister Jacob Zhimomi said - the PM, has "reignited the hopes and dreams of 140 crore citizens of the country".
He even called Modi -- "the Father of New India".
Observers know, the BJP and the central government's spin doctors are 'hyperactive' in claiming a positive performance for the Prime Minister.
And what suits the official gambit is that there is still no big challenge to Modi either from within the BJP and also from opposition parties notwithstanding some undercurrent of anti-incumbency feelings.
It is said, Modi's calculated gamble in playing his time-tested pro-Hindutva and often seemingly anti-Muslim cards with some uniqueness and variations has only endeared him to Hindu voters.
One such episode in 2023 was about 'reviving' the name Bharat.
Even the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is linked to that. The West Bengal Govt may try out implementing UCC in next six months.
Many Modi’s admirers say his statesmanship always spells confidence and optimism.
"There will always be two ways of looking at things. Shall we live by fear of doubts and possibility of defeats? Or shall we live by hard work, hopes and by the approach to look at positive things. The second choice makes sense. This is what we have achieved," says a Naga BJP leader.
"More votes have been cast for Modi than for any politician in human history, by a margin in the hundreds of millions.
Modi has comfortably outperformed every other democratically elected leader in the world in Morning Consult’s global leader approval tracker for many years, despite the longevity of his tenure,”
-- wrote Bill Drexel, who is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute
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