Mr. Bose, an economist and social activist who just lately joined the grand previous get together, stated he anticipated a political realignment of opposition events towards the BJP if and when the particular intensive revision of rolls occurs in West Bengal, “presumably after the upcoming festive season”.
“Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is at the forefront of the anti-SIR movement in Bihar, and his exposes of the biased exercise have not only given significant political traction to the Congress but also granted impetus to the rank and file of the entire INDIA bloc,” the 51-year-old get together chief informed PTI in an interview.
“Make no mistake, he will follow the same routine in West Bengal and states such as Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where polls are due next year, if the EC fails to take lessons from its Bihar experience,” Mr. Bose added.
The former Left chief stated that though points similar to corruption underneath the TMC rule, atrocities towards ladies and kids, and persecution of Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states would dominate the ballot agenda in West Bengal, the SIR is more likely to take centre stage as soon as the method is initiated.
“Whether realignment of the political opposition in the wake of SIR would translate into the Congress joining hands with the TMC to counter the BJP would depend entirely on the ruling dispensation here. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek have maintained their ‘Ekla chalo re’ policy [of going alone] and you can’t expect the Congress to extend a begging bowl for a seat-sharing arrangement,” Mr. Bose stated.
Mr. Bose, a outstanding pupil chief at JNU and considered one of SFI’s best-known strategists from the mid-Nineteen Nineties to early 2000s, joined the Congress in Kolkata on September 15 within the presence of Left-turned Congress leaders Syed Naseer Hussain and Kanhaiya Kumar.
He had resigned from the CPI(M) in 2012 over variations with the get together over supporting Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature because the President and was subsequently, expelled from the get together.
Mr. Bose, nonetheless, maintained that the opportunity of the EC taking a mellowed-down method to the SIR train within the remaining states could not be discounted.
“One never knows, given the resistance the poll panel faced in Bihar and its experiences of the subsequent intervention of the Supreme Court over the controversial exercise, it might choose to take a mellowed-down approach in West Bengal,” he stated.
Mr. Bose laid equal stress on the potential position of the TMC administration on the time of the train which, he stated, may decide political equations within the state forward of the polls.
“Given TMC’s dubious track record in conducting free and fair polls in the state, its credibility runs in the negative territory. With the highly politicised nature of its administration, where state government officials function under the party’s diktats, we have serious doubts about the fairness with which the BLOs, essentially Trinamool recruits, would conduct the SIR exercise,” Mr. Bose alleged.
“While in Bihar, it was the marginalised segment — women, Dalits, backward classes and Muslims — whose names were unfairly deleted, in West Bengal, the TMC could try and delete names of supporters of opposition parties,” he added.
Asserting that the Congress is preventing an “ideological battle with the Constitution as its centrepiece”, Mr. Bose alleged, “The TMC has no such commitment.”
Asked why the INDIA bloc seems to be working higher and in tandem with the present ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar, whereas the Congress’ makes an attempt to sew an alliance with the Left in West Bengal yielded little or no electoral advantages in earlier elections, Mr. Bose attributed the dismal performances of the 2 events primarily to the absence of political programmes.
“It is my belief that people do not trust alliances that do not have concrete programmes. In Bihar, there’s an issue against which the opposition parties are fighting. Based on that, there’s now a wider political unity and an outline of a common programme. When this translates into a seat-sharing arrangement closer to the elections, it will have credibility in the eyes of the people. That never happened in West Bengal since the TMC came to power,” he added.
To a query on how he perceives his future position within the Congress could be, Mr. Bose stated he was open to the thought of contesting the meeting polls, circumstances allowing.
“I am prepared to serve the party in whichever capacity the leadership considers appropriate — whether as a strategist, a field activist, or a blend of both. If circumstances demand that I contest an election, I am open to taking up that responsibility as well,” he added.
