Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged the Centre’s support to Bengal and the Mamata Banerjee government in the vast rebuilding exercise after the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan during his visit Friday, but the message does not seem to have trickled down to the BJP’s state unit that has launched a scathing attack on the state government.
The Bengal BJP, led by its chief Dilip Ghosh, has been at its belligerent best while targeting Mamata, her government and her party, laying bare its intent to use the natural calamity to discredit the Trinamul regime. On Saturday, the state BJP conducted news conferences, displayed aggression on the streets and social media and went to town with allegations of the chief minister’s “failure” to properly handle the aftermath of Amphan.
Ghosh, the Midnapore MP, showed the way in the morning after he was stopped from visiting Amphan-hit areas on the southern fringes of Calcutta. Police blocked his convoy on its way to Baruipur, which led to a standoff that continued for over two-and-a-half hours.
“The state government has failed in its endeavour to provide relief to the affected people. It has now decided not to allow anybody else to do the job,” Ghosh later told journalists. He jeered at Mamata’s appeal for deployment of the army.
On Friday, after both Modi and Mamata ensured political propriety and jointly surveyed the devastation, Ghosh ensured the state BJP deviated from the script although the Prime Minister himself had praised the chief minister.
Ghosh has been spearheading the BJP’s relentless attacks on Mamata over the pandemic war effort, eager to dent any political advantage that she may have gained ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.
Mamata expressed bitter disapproval of the alleged attempts of the BJP to politicise — even communalise — grave human tragedies such as the pandemic and the cyclone.
“Behead me if you don’t like me…. Shoot me dead…. That you can do. I have been doing everything possible and more, for days, weeks, months, virtually without sleep. I too am a human being,” the chief minister said at a news conference on Saturday evening.
“Those sitting here and pursuing such shallow politics, I would advise them, do not try to cash in on a natural disaster…. Do not try to foment communal tension even now. This is not the time. Please, if you must unnecessarily provoke the people, don’t do it now,” she added.
Mamata appealed to the BJP and all other political parties to show restraint while the state mitigates the triad of unprecedented challenges — Covid-19 and its impact on health and the economy, the migrant worker crisis, and Cyclone Amphan.
“With folded hands, I pray before you — I fall at your feet, if that is what you seek — set your politics aside for the time of elections. If you don’t like me, shoot me dead. But now, let me carry out the relief, rehabilitation, restoration and rebuilding exercise, alongside the pandemic war effort and the arrangements for the return of our own,” she said in response to a specific question on Ghosh and his activities.
A BJP office-bearer said it was important to assess Modi’s response after Mamata asked for central assistance.
According to him, the state government had prior information about the severity of the cyclone. Yet, no proper measure was taken to minimise damage, he said.
“So many people have died from electrocution. Why wasn’t power disconnected in those areas when the administration knew about the storm?” asked Rahul Sinha, BJP national secretary.
The Bengal BJP is preparing a report on the devastation caused by Amphan, which would be sent to the central leadership in a few days. “We are sure our supporters and workers will be denied the relief that the state government has to offer. This list will help us identify and help them,” a BJP source said.