After poll blows, Bengal BJP churning: Suvendu Adhkari says rethink ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’

The successive poll drubbings in West Bengal have forced the fissures within the state BJP unit into the open, with senior leader Suvendu Adhikari, who has been facing the brunt of the heat, on Wednesday questioning the party’s avowed motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.

Speaking at the two-day BJP state executive committee meeting, the first after the Lok Sabha poll results, Adhikari also underlined that he was the Leader of the Opposition and had little role in the party organisation in the state.

“Hindu bachabo, songbidhan bachabo. Amio bolechi rashtrabadi Muslim, apnara bolechen ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. Aur bolbo na. Bolbo ‘Joh humare saath, hum unka saath. ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ bandh karo (We will save the Hindus and save the Constitution. I have spoken about nationalist Muslims and you all said ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. But I shall say it no more. Rather we shall now say, ‘We are with those who are with us’. Let’s put an end to ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’,” Adhikari said, adding that the BJP should also shut down its Minority Morcha.

With the statement by Adhikari appearing to contradict a policy laid down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, as evidence of its “secular” approach, the state BJP leaders jumped in for damage control, calling the statement Adhikari’s personal opinion.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, seen as one of Adhikari’s detractors, told reporters: “In the working committee meeting, party leaders are free to give their recommendations. It is up to the state party leadership to decide any additions, corrections or deletions. Suvendu Adhikari spoke his mind as a delegate.”

On Adhikari’s statement that the BJP Minority Morcha should be dissolved, Majumdar said there was no question of