Dilip Ghosh Interview | West Bengal BJP boss on Mamata, politics, golf and controversies

Dilip Ghosh, the BJP West Bengal president, remembers the day he walked into a golf course in Kolkata.

It was on a balmy August morning last year. India was grappling with the pandemic. Ghosh wanted to prove a point, he was tired of being labelled as a man who knows nothing but still aspires for the moon.

Everyone, including the caddies, laughed behind his back. The news spread like wildfire and soon the golf course was swarming with workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress. WhatsApp messages and photographs flew across India.

Within seconds, Ghosh became a subject of ridicule, the moot point pushed by his political rival revolved around some sarcastic laughter: A Sanghi in a golf course? Ideally, he should be at a Hanuman Temple, right?

“I took it on my chin, I started visiting the course at regular intervals. One day, I was told the golf course has suspended membership probably in the fear that I could ask for one,” Ghosh, 56, told MoneyControl in an interview in Delhi.

Sometimes, the shock factor works in Bengal. Many years ago, a large number of villagers were encouraged by Ram Chatterjee, a Left Front minister, to jump into the pool of the snooty Calcutta Swimming Club to protest against what the club’s membership rules. The incident had shocked Kolkata.

A Newbie In Politics

Ghosh, charming with a gap-toothed smile, says he wants to walk into unchartered territories in Bengal. Barely five to six years in active politics, Ghosh knew ridicule would be stapled on his body by the TMC like safety clips to a file. He knows he will be asked if he has written books, read or recited poetry, if he has ever watched films or sipped coffee with writers or intellectuals. But Ghosh, who has a sports fan’s appetite for competition and conquest, wanted to surprise his rivals. It was a tough call. Ghosh knew his Twitter handle has 240,000 something followers against Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s five million plus.

“I got no answers every time I have asked the TMC workers how many have read 80 something books written by Mamata Banerjee. So this big argument over who is educated and who is an illiterate must stop here. I am just six years into politics, she (Banerjee) has spent nearly three decades in politics. So why is the TMC worried?”

Ghosh says he is seeking integrity in politics. Greed, sometimes, is not good. He said he cannot clean up corruption in the state because he does not have a giant broom but he can make an effort. The hinterland is his priority, he is not too worried about what TMC is saying about him and his party in Kolkata.

“I travel for miles every day, tell people that there will be a conducive atmosphere for business in Bengal and there will be no discrimination. I try to clear the air about all kinds of falsities that my rivals are spreading. We will not build temples in each village as the TMC says, we will build temples of excellence. I have travelled in the countryside after Amphan and seen for myself how aid did not reach the poorest of the poor.”

What Bengal Needs

Ghosh says more than jobs West Bengal needs economic growth. He says it is sad that India’s biggest fish eating community has to import fish, chicken and egg from Andhra Pradesh which has registered a 150 percent growth in fish production to be India’s number one fish production state. As per the latest Economic Survey, Andhra Pradesh with 34,49,560 tonnes of fish production (2017-18) topped the chart whereas Bengal - not even among the first five states - has a 17 lakh tonnes production.

“It took five years for Bengal to increase fish production by two lakh tonnes. There is a mafia everywhere, in fish, coal, cow export, real estate. Bengal is the only state where the government has admitted people took bribes to offer work and jobs. For every work in Bengal there is a broker, there is cut money,” adds Ghosh.

Ghosh knows he has to be an insider in Bengal for his job. His pale eyes give him an unsettling falconic gaze in a state where everything is deeply mired in politics. He knows there is a lack of faith in Bengal’s economic system, a lack of belief in the markets. “We must push the economy hard, the state has a million opportunities. We must bring work culture back, systems in place.”

Explaining The Controversies

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Ghosh says his words are often misconstrued because he is not a part of the state’s elite. He once said cow urine has gold, what he actually meant was that cow urine has gold like qualities and is being used for ayurveda. “I never said the urine has traces of gold and is extremely beneficial, used for ayurveda. His supporters say the ruling party in Bengal hates the Centre, hates aid from Centre and often steals Central-sponsored programmes as its own. “The crisis in Bengal is caused simply by greed and stupidity, everything is made to look legal in the state,” said Ghosh.

Every day, Ghosh says he takes notes to create a file for the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre about what needs to be done in West Bengal. “There are many things illegal in Bengal. Many TMC leaders have criminal intent but if you probe them, the party says CBI and ED are being misused by the Centre. I wish to tell the TMC that the CBI is no longer a caged parrot, it is a crow which will bite if you lie.”

The BJP president said what is happening in Bengal is a bit bizarre, the state government is reluctant to prosecute criminals, it doesn’t want to take a look even if there is huge smoke.

“I have a feeling the TMC is afraid to prosecute anyone. But, I am known for fighting rather than bargaining, I am a warrior, the TMC cannot push me out, nor can they kill me. There is too much information of TMC’s corruption in the market for anything to be considered secret. The CBI and Ed are doing their job,” says Ghosh, who has an astounding memory and keeps tracks of very high profile cases involving people close to the TMC.

Ghosh shifts his attention to Bengal’s economy and says the state needs to reorient its business strategies. Bengal has 21 Special Economic Zones but only seven operational. Global brands are not heading towards Bengal but going to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Bengal is India’s second largest tea growing state, producing 415 million kilos but the gardens need serious repair.

“And when you sanction grants for the gardens, the CM and the Finance Minister (Amit Mitra) says they do not need such low grants. They do not even realise that a Rs 25,000 crore investment in the highways will connect the state with the northeastern states, and also the ports of Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh,” says Ghosh.

When he is in Kolkata, Ghosh does a daily morning public engagement outreach over tea modelled on the lines of the party’s 2014 much-debated campaign, Chai pe Charcha (discussions over tea), with just 50-odd people every day.

The discussions range from health, wellness, ayurveda, and law and order. At times, the discussions revolve around the holy cow. He says he is not afraid of discussing the cow and benefits of milk and other bovine products but does not want the discussion to be given a dirty, political spin by his rivals.

There are times when the TMC workers trouble him during his morning walks. In one such incident, Ghosh was confronted by a group of young college students asking him how many temples the BJP government will build if voted to power. Ghosh replied Bengal will have more colleges and hospitals.

In another incident, Ghosh was faced with a band of people wearing Tees with two letters Beche De which translates into Sell It Off. It was a dig at the BJP’s disinvestment policy, against which the TMC has been raising a voice. Ghosh did not confront the protestors, he continued with his walk.

“They have come only because they are worried about the presence of the BJP,” Ghosh said.

Many ask him about his campaign against the formidable two-term CM Mamata Banerjee and her TMC. Ghosh also sees himself as a potential chief ministerial face but is reluctant to discuss it because he knows there are many contenders in the race. There are rumours that the BJP high command has finalised six names for the top slot if the party is voted to power and only those six would be considered for the top job. And then, one would be chosen and five left out.

What About the CM Post?

Ghosh remains silent when the issue of future CM comes up, he does not even want to say where he will operate from if his party comes to power and makes him the CM.

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“I have left it at the party. I work for the party, the party is my strength. I do not visit astrologers to check my future. I will see what is in store for me after the elections.” In 2019, the BJP’s performance in the Lok Sabha poll was impressive in Bengal where the party won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats.

Ghosh, who stays in an expansive apartment at Rajarhat, Salt Lake, has been generating interest in the Hindi-speaking sections of the city’s population, especially the Biharis, Marwaris and Gujaratis. Realising the Bengalis would not like his vermillion tilak and hardcore Hindutva image, Ghosh has also done an image makeover with designer FabIndia jackets and sunshades. Besides the golf course, he has been visiting local clubs and discussing cricket and football. And also the future of sports in Bengal.

The game started way back in 2019 for Ghosh who then got into active politics after spending some years with the RSS. In a few months time, Bengal will know if the saffron brigade will rule or bite the dust.

Whatever happens, Ghosh says he will remain a loyal worker for whom the party comes first. And if the top chair comes with it, that will be a double bonanza for this Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) loyalist.