Courtesy: Indian Express
Three days after he formally took over as the BJP’s new state president, 51-year-old Dilip Ghosh’s cabin at the party headquarters is still abuzz with visitors and boxes of sweets that keep piling on his table.
Born in a village in Jhargram, Ghosh saw himself rise from an RSS worker active since 1984. His eight-year stint in Andaman not only “strengthened the party there” but also strengthened his position in BJP.
In 2007, he was back in Kolkata as an RSS pracharak, worked for the Hindu Jagran Mancha for the next four years until, on January 20 this year, he became the general secretary of BJP in Bengal.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Ghosh said he “understands the organisation” and it is his understanding of the affairs that has kept him going on. Now, he says he has been given the responsibility to build up the movement, which, after the BJP’s success in generating a “Modi wave” before and during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, waned in Bengal. “Waves come and go. Our organisational strength was weak at that time and therefore we could not make full use of it. A wave gets created ahead of all elections and this one (Bengal’s 2016) will be no exception. We have improved our infrastructure and hope that the problems which persisted last time will not be there this time,” he said.
He admits it was his work in Andaman that paid off.
“Politically we were not doing bad there but we grew stronger with time (during his stint). Last September, during the local body elections, I was there for a week. Rahul Sinha and Rupa Ganguly had also visited. We secured about 80 per cent of the seats. Congress had been wiped out. The highest authorities must have thought I will be able to do the job here and therefore decided to put their faith in me,” Ghosh said.
Asked if he has enough time before the next Assembly elections here, he said the party has been working towards it for the last six months. “With the help of some experts and Central leaders, the paperwork and the strategic plans have already been put in place,” he explained.
Ghosh’s aim is to strengthen the party “right till the booth level”. “Prior to this, we weren’t able to send our representatives in more than 50 per cent of the booths. Now we have covered over 70 per cent booths. The aim is to send agents in all the booths in the forthcoming polls, work towards which is on,” he said.
He also conceded that pitching Subrata Thakur, son of Minister of State for Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Manjul Krishna Thakur, as a BJP candidate from Bongaon for the bye-election there was “a gamble which did not pay off”. Ghosh, however, considers both Babul Supriyo and Rupa Ganguly as “assets for the party”.
“Babul is a celebrity and a popular leader in Asansol.
People flock to see him. He is an asset for us. We want to use the popularity of this dynamic young man to the fullest.
Rupa is a popular actor and already a very popular BJP leader here. We will make her tour the districts. She is an asset and we plan to make full use of her, too,” Ghosh said.
He said there would be “some change” in the state unit but looking at the forthcoming polls it would be kept at a minimum. Ghosh is looking for “a good mix of politicians and celebrities” as candidates for the assembly elections next year.
About the several former bureaucrats who had joined BJP and then left, he claimed, “They never left but have turned inactive. They were new to the party. I will go to all of them. I am ready to approach them for the benefit of the party.”
Asked about the difference between him and his predecessor Rahul Sinha, Ghosh said “there is no difference in opinion between us”.
“We have just had a chat for about one and a half hours. It was a coincidence when we reached Delhi together in the same flight. We had a session of about two hours. He is a senior leader. He will guide us. We have decided to talk to each other in case there is any question and not go via media or any third person,” he said.
