Bengal BJP suspends two former vice-presidents who joined dissidents

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A day after the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) issued show-cause letters to two of its former state vice-presidents, Jay Prakash Majumdar and Ritesh Tiwari, charging them with making statements against the party, both were “temporarily suspended” on Monday evening, before they could reply to the letters.

As cracks in the Bengal BJP widened, the party’s media cell released the suspension order issued at the direction of state president Sukanta Majumdar.

“The two persons (Majumdar and Tiwari) are being temporarily suspended till the investigation into charges of violating party discipline is not over,” said the one-line order.

Tiwari was attending a live television show on a popular channel when the news broke.

“Sukanta Majumdar is a good person but he is under tremendous pressure from state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty and Amit Malviya (head of the BJP’s national information technology cell). This is a conspiracy to destroy the Bengal BJP. There are leaders in the current setup who have taken favours from the Trinamool Congress (TMC)….. These people have no support base. I don’t care if they expel me. I am not leaving the party. I will create such a situation that they will be compelled to apologize and take me back,” Tiwari said on the live show, virtually announcing a war on the leadership.

BJP’s former state president and former governor of Meghalaya and Tripura, Tathagata Roy, said: “I am surprised. Tiwari is an old and sincere worker. The show-cause letter did not mention any charge. They were not given the opportunity to reply. It is apparent that the decision to suspend them was taken much earlier.”

Neither Amitava Chakraborty nor Malviya made any statement till 9.30 pm

Hours before the suspension order was issued, Tiwari alleged that the action was taken without any meeting of the state disciplinary action committee.

“How could there be a meeting of the state disciplinary action committee? Sukanta Majumdar has dissolved all committees till the new ones are formed. Members of the old committee told me no meeting was held,” Tiwari told HT.

Sukanta Majumdar, on the other hand, maintained during a press conference on Monday afternoon that the committee took the decision. He also said similar action might be taken against some of the other senior leaders who have criticized the party in public in recent times.

“There are disciplinary action committees at various levels. All leaders are under watch,” said Majumdar.

Tiwari had also alleged on Sunday that the letters were leaked to the media before the intended recipients received them.

“The party will probe this. Show cause letters are e-mailed,” said Majumdar, adding that the party expects a reply as early as possible although the letters did not mention any deadline. The suspension order was issued four hours later.

Jay Prakash Majumdar and Tiwari were dropped from the state committee on December 22 when the Bengal unit announced the names of 11 new vice-presidents, five general secretaries, 42 organizational district unit presidents, 12 state secretaries, the new morcha (front) presidents and the heads of several cells.

Several old-timers such as Pratap Banerjee, Biswapriyo Roy Chowdhury, Union minister of state Dr Subhas Sarkar, Raj Kamal Pathak and Debasish Mitra were also dropped from the panel of vice-presidents. Jay Prakash Majumdar was made a spokesperson while the others were left with no portfolio. General secretary Sayantan Basu was dropped as well. Most of these leaders left the Bengal BJP’s WhatsApp groups.

The rejig led to repercussions in at least five districts and also left leaders from the Dalit Matua community, headed by union minister of state Shantanu Thakur, upset. The dissidents got united under Thakur’s leadership.

Thakur demanded the removal of Amitava Chakraborty, holding him responsible for the crucial organizational changes.

Following the protests, Sukanta Majumdar dissolved the cells and departments on January 13. The party also postponed the formation of district committees.

Senior state BJP leaders said Thakur held a meeting with the dissidents for more than two hours on Sunday and met some leaders of the Matua community on Monday.

Leaders in Thakur’s camp said he may meet BJP national president J P Nadda and Union home minster Amit Shah with the Matua community’s demand for immediate implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The law offers citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015. The Matuas are a part of the large Dalit Namasudra community that migrated from East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) during India’s partition in 1947 and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to escape religious persecution.

Sukanta Majumdar said a Union minister can meet Nadda any time.

“The Matua organisations are not part of the BJP. They are independent. They can always seek an appointment with Shah as he announced the Centre’s decisions on the CAA,” Majumdar added.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy said the dissidence in the BJP state unit is exposing its weakness.

“Some dissident leaders may wish to switch sides but our party has not given any thought to it so far,” said Roy.

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