Shah meets Bengal BJP MPs in Delhi, tells them to ‘perform or perish’

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Panchayat elections in West Bengal, BJP MPs from the state huddled with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in New Delhi earlier last week, urging him to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 and to take strong action against the alleged corruption by the Trinamool Congress-led government in Bengal, while Shah is believed to have given a stern message to the party MPs to “perform or perish” in the upcoming elections in the state.
According to sources present in the meeting Amit Shah was furious with the Bengal BJP leaders who came to meet him with regards to the performance of the party in Bengal. Shah is also believed to have taken to task several MPs present in the meeting for not being active in their constituencies.
Shah, according to sources, also asked the Bengal BJP MPs to ensure that the tribal and rural vote bank of the BJP is back into their kitty before the Lok Sabha elections due next year. “Amit Shah has given a strong message to the Bengal MPs, perform or perish. He was angry with the way the BJP was going downhill in the state. Shah has told the MPs that if they are unable to deliver favourable results in the upcoming Panchayat elections, their ticket for the next Lok Sabha polls would be in question,” a senior BJP functionary present in the meeting told The Sunday Guardian.
The BJP functionary also said that Shah, during his conversation with the MPs, brought in reference of the Municipal polls that was held in West Bengal last year and in which the BJP could not perform well. “Shah was upset over the performance of the BJP both in the Municipal polls as well as the subsequent bypolls held in the state, where the BJP slid to the third position, while the CPM occupied the second position.
He (Amit Shah) has asked all the MPs to start spending more time in their constituencies and to meet people, build trust and get their work done. He has also said that he would monitor the work of the MPs and their performances in their respective seats in the Panchayat elections in the state,” the BJP functionary told this newspaper.
The Panchayat elections in West Bengal are expected to be announced after 20 April and is likely to be held in May this year. While the BJP performed very poorly in the local body polls held last year, the party is expecting to give a tough fight to the ruling Trinamool Congress in the Panchayat elections.
Some BJP leaders say that the fight for the Panchayat polls would not be easy, since the elections are held by the State Election Commission, that is often accused of being partisan.
The meeting was attended by 16 BJP MPs from West Bengal, including the state president Sukanta Mazumdar, who is also an MP. The meeting started at 9 pm at the residence of Amit Shah at Krishna Menon Marg in New Delhi. This meeting was earlier scheduled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but was cancelled by the PM as he had to leave for an urgent meeting.
However, some of the BJP MPs, including the State President, Sukanta Mazumdar has apprised Amit Shah of the alleged corruption in West Bengal by the ruling Trinamool Congress government. The MPs have reportedly submitted a report to the Home Minister regarding the “siphoning” of central funds in the MGNREGA scheme, the PM Awas Yojana, Mid-meal scheme amongst some others.
Earlier this week, the leader of Opposition from the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, also met Amit Shah and held a 30-minute closed door meeting with him, in which he has also reportedly asked the Home Minister to initiate action against the corrupt officials involved in the alleged scam.
Some MPs have also spoken about the delay in the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 in Bengal, which could impact the vote share of the BJP. The CAA was passed in Parliament in 2019 with the aim to provide citizenship to all refugees, including Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Sikh and Jains who have come to India from the neighbouring states of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious persecution. The BJP soared high on the back of the CAA in 2019 as a major chunk of the Hindu refugee population that migrated from Bangladesh resides in India and supported the BJP both during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well as during the 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal.