Votes not Enough to Change the Government in Bengal; Street Muscle is Equally Important

In the recently concluded general elections in India the ruling National Democratic Alliance [NDA] led by the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] won with a much smaller margin of victory. As per political news today, the state of West Bengal is one of those places where the BJP had lost a third of the seats as compared to its performance in the last general elections. The reason for this is that the BJP’s vote share in the state dipped by 2% but still remained at over 38% which is quite substantial and makes it a strong contender for power in the state next to the Trinamool Congress [TMC].

Currently, it is a straight contest between the ruling TMC and the BJP in Bengal wherein no other political parties or formations count anymore going by recent political news.

So, why is the BJP not able to win a majority despite such massive and visible popular support on the ground in this crucial state? A major part of the reason is that it is a new contender for power in the state and its central leadership is yet to understand the ground realities here.

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State-sponsored political violence in Bengal is real

The BJP leadership is yet to come to terms with the unrestrained and rampant violence by goons of the ruling party in almost every walk of life in Bengal according to India politics news.

In the local slang of Bengal, these political goon gangs of the ruling TMC are known as “Harmanda Brigade”, a terminology which remains constant irrespective of the party in power.

This organized political gangsterism was introduced by the Communist Party of India [Marxist] or CPM, which ruled the state with unrestrained violence for over 37 years before the TMC came to power as per political news today.

The Harmanda Brigade goons steadily shifted their support into the welcoming embrace of the TMC after the latter came to power in Bengal in 2011. That is how political violence in Bengal continued even after the communists were wiped out of power.

The BJP leadership both at the centre and in the state have not come to terms with this kind of an environment where intimidation and violence are the primary means of exercising power according to recent political news.

Harmanda Brigade will remain as long as the TMC is in power

It remains to be seen whether the BJP has been able to understand that the TMC will use the street muscle of the Harmanda Brigade to rule Hindus in West Bengal with an iron hand going by India politics news.

By all indications, the BJP does not seem to understand that and neither do they understand that the street muscle of the TMC’s Harmanda Brigade contributes to a loss of 5-6% of votes for the BJP in every election.

That additional percentage of votes would be enough for the BJP to defeat the TMC in both the Lok Sabha as well as the Vidhan Sabha seats in Bengal but they would also have to engage and tackle the TMC’s Harmanda Brigade on every street in Bengal.

That will require the BJP to accept violence as an essential part of life in today’s Bengal and tackle the Harmanda with an eye for an eye approach. Unfortunately, the BJP is totally confused about how to project power and use it in Bengal.

The BJP as a rule, rides high on ethics and while that may be appealing to a certain segment of educated middle class Hindu voters, it has no takers among a very large segment of the electorate especially families who are driven by pure economic considerations. As far as Bengal is concerned, the party’s top leadership continues to turn a blind eye towards the atrocities committed on Hindus in general and BJP party members and workers in particular by TMC backed Muslim goons. If this continues, then support for the BJP will begin shrinking and the 2024 general elections is the first indication of that.