BJP Hopes Bolstered by ‘Overwhelming Response’ to Ram Mandir Replica in Kolkata

With what the party called “an overwhelming response” to a Puja pandal at Santosh Mitra Square in Calcutta, which was a copy of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir and supported by BJP councillor Sajal Ghosh, the BJP’s hopes for success in Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have been bolstered.

On October 16, about three months before to the official dedication of the Ayodhya temple, Union Home Minister Amit Shah opened the Puja pandal in the heart of Calcutta.

"This Puja has unequivocally demonstrated that Bengali Hindus' hearts have been awakened by Lord Ram." Senior BJP leader Shishir K. Bajoria said, "We have every reason to be optimistic about its impact on the upcoming polls."

In the next general election, Shah wants the Bengali BJP to win 35 seats. Even BJP leaders have acknowledged in private talks over the previous several months that the aim was unattainable given the party's weak organizational foundation in Bengal.

Conversations with state BJP officials, both on and off the record, revealed that a portion of the party seemed to have shifted sentiment in reaction to the central Calcutta Ram temple replica and "an overwhelming response" to it.

We were surprised by the tremendous response that Santosh Mitra Square received this year since we were unsure of the state's residents' reaction to the Ram temple. Under the condition of anonymity, a senior state BJP leader said, "The fact remains that Bengal is not like north Indian states."

As Bajoria explained the idea of what he dubbed the "awakening of Ram," he added that thousands of pandal hoppers who had faithfully attended the installation were shouting "Jai Shri Ram" on their own even as they patiently waited in lengthy lines.

In Bengal, the theme of a pandal has great significance. It illustrates how people think or something significant to Bengalis. In a few months, the nation will welcome Ram Mandir, and a sizable portion of the populace supports the notion. This time, it was shown that Ram is present in Bengali hearts, Bajoria said, before going on to say that Shah's presence provided the concept a significant boost among the Bengali community.

The BJP leadership's emphasis on "this time" was a clue that the party's prior attempts at outreach during Durga Puja, which started with a Puja the party held in 2020 and was ostensibly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had little effect.

"The EZCC hosted that puja... "Who will connect that location with Durga Puja?" a BJP insider questioned.

It was Mukul Roy's (a Trinamul turncoat whose political loyalty is now in question) badly thought out plan. The source said, "Kailash Vijayvargiya, the central minder at the time, who knew very nothing about Bengal, backed it.

In addition to the number of people that attended Santosh Mitra Square or Shah's attendance at its opening, the Bengal BJP leadership is calling this autumn's outreach efforts a "success." BJP President J.P. Nadda and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan paid visits during this season. According to party sources, they were able to disrupt the Trinamul monopoly in a few districts and minor puja committees in Calcutta.

According to a political observer, the BJP's apparent autumnal success can be attributed to the methodical attempts made by central leaders, such as Nadda, Shah, and Pradhan, to establish their presence in the state through frequent visits where they repeatedly emphasized the need for change in Bengal.

The BJP has used the "change" slogan before, however, when Modi and Shah, who led the party's 2021 election campaign, attempted to seize power from the state during the most recent Assembly elections.

Questions might be made about whether the large attendance at a puja pandal, which is a frequent sight in Calcutta, and Shah's attendance at its inauguration are signs of any upsurge in the party's support base, given the BJP ranks' forecasts about how near the party can go to the 35 objective.

The turnout during the Puja was described by a Calcutta Police officer who was working at Santosh Mitra Square as "pretty decent" and as one of the best in the city. The officer said, "I saw a significant presence of Hindi-speaking people among them... I was barking out instructions in Hindi." He went on to report that he also saw many automobiles with number plates from nearby states like Jharkhand and Bihar.

Given that a disproportionate number of non-Bengalis make up Bengal's BJP support base, the police officer's comment is noteworthy. Previous election results analysis had shown that the BJP performed particularly well in regions with a large number of Hindi-speaking voters, with the party securing the maximum percentage of 40.7% in 2019 and 37.97% in 2021.

Previously, a number of BJP officials had privately said that obtaining Bengali voters was the party's largest obstacle. "It is not appropriate to use one crammed Santosh Mitra Square pandal and endless rounds of Jai Shree Ram shouts as indications in a state like Bengal where there is such a significant minority voter concentration. Remember that the BJP's diminishing base of support in north Bengal is also an issue, the political analyst said.

The Puja's location attracted a large number of people. It is located close to the Sealdah train station, and hundreds of people who travel by local train to go to the city have visited it. The region seems congested even on regular workdays, since thousands of people use the same rail line that the pandal was built to return. The spokesman for the BJP, Kunal Ghosh, is a general secretary of Trinamul state and may make any allegation regarding the rush to the pandal. However, he knows it won't assist them in the political arena.