The Chief Minister’s former close aide, Suvendu Adhikari is the giant slayer of West Bengal, having defeated Mamata Banerjee from the Nandigram seat. He speaks to Aman Sharma in his first detailed interview after being rewarded by the BJP and appointed as Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal.
Edited excerpts:
Q. CM Mamata Banerjee may contest from her old seat of Bhowanipore now as Sovandeb Chhattopadhyay has resigned as MLA…
A. The fact is she should have not accepted the post of the chief minister on ethical grounds. Her party may have won but she was rejected in Nandigram. In 1996 in Kerala when the LDF won the elections, their chief ministerial face VS Achuthanandan lost his seat and did not take up the post of the chief minister.
Q. PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme is finally operational in Bengal but only seven lakh farmers got the money this time.
A. In West Bengal, as per criteria, over 70 lakh farmers should get the benefit of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, as per figures of the 2011 Census, but were not getting the money so far. The prime minister and the BJP made this a big issue and finally, the Agriculture Department of West Bengal inaugurated a portal last year and 40 lakh farmers registered there. But only 7 lakh out of the 40 lakh farmers have got the benefit this time. The ground reality is that the state government has only sent names to the Centre of the TMC leaders and TMC cadre and especially of those from a community which has been used as a vote-bank by the TMC. The names of those farmers who are BJP supporters and who do not support the TMC have not been sent though they fit the criteria. Even for the seven lakh farmers who got the benefit, the CM got a leaflet distributed from every BDO office that claimed she had fought and got them this money. This is totally opportunistic behaviour to grab credit for a central government scheme. Right now, there is no election in the near future in Bengal but Bannerjee is still playing politics. Politics should be left for near the elections but in West Bengal, this is what happens all the time and 365 days.
Q. How will BJP act as a strong Opposition in West Bengal? You are now Leader of the Opposition.
Compared to the other states, in West Bengal, the constitutional scope to work, or respect or recognition is not there for the LoP. I saw it when I was part of the government in the last 10 years when the Leader of the Opposition got no respect from the TMC. But as the LoP now, I will perform my duty with all the energy and enthusiasm to be a constructive Opposition and raise issues strongly while respecting the dignity of the assembly. We had won 77 seats in the recent elections and later two of our MPs who contested have resigned; so we have 75 MLAs now. It is a good strength for the Opposition.
Q. What is your analysis on why the BJP could not win the West Bengal elections?
A. I will go to New Delhi and meet our party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and I will share my practical experience of these elections inside our party forums and not in the media.
Q. The CBI arrested TMC ministers like Firhad Hakim in the Narada case soon after the elections. The TMC has questioned the timing of the same and asked why the CBI has not got sanction so far to act against you?
A. I will not speak on this matter. The matter is sub-judice and before the Lok Sabha Speaker. Regarding the timing, that is a non-issue as questions could have been raised if this action had happened during the elections as some may have said this brings advantage to one party. Law is taking its own course.
Q. The BJP has made post-poll violence in West Bengal a big issue but the TMC has termed it an exaggeration.
A. Over 30 of our supporters were killed in post-poll violence by TMC cadre, and daily extortion and violence are still going on. Up to 12,000 complaints have been lodged by us with the police regarding this but there are some areas where there is no scope of lodging a complaint too. The judiciary should look at this – lots of representations have also gone to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. The central government and judiciary should look into this and do something. People of West Bengal had to flee due to the violence and become refugees in Assam and Jharkhand and Odisha. There is no scope of starting a political movement in West Bengal as lockdown is on and the state government can use the law around the pandemic against us. But this law is not invoked when the TMC stages a protest in Kolkata or outside the CBI office. The chief minister is herself staging a dharna at the CBI office. But three BJP MLAs sat on a protest in Siliguri over rising COVID deaths but were taken away by police within 30 minutes.
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