"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) miserably failed to understand the politics of Bengal. We have actually opposed Netaji's inclusive secularism which is very important in the country today because the entire country is engulfed in divisive politics and communalism which is tearing us apart. Now, the only way to save this nation is the Bose brothers' ideology of inclusive secularism which can save the nation from further disintegration," said Chandra Kumar Bose, grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who quit the saffron party on Wednesday, 6 September.
In a conversation with The Quint over the phone, Chandra Kumar underlined several reasons behind resigning from the party other than what he mentioned in a very detailed resignation letter writter to party chief JP Nadda.
Known for unapologetically speaking his mind and taking stands different that the party on major political issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and hijab-ban controversy, Chandra Kumar in his resignation said that it became impossible for him to "continue in all conscience as a member of the BJP."
But other than divisive politics and being unable to promote Netaji's secular ideology within the BJP as the primary reasons, Chandra Kumar shed light on several other issues plaguing the West Bengal BJP in a detailed 15-minute long interview with The Quint.
Was this decision to quit the BJP long-coming?
I was trying to reach out to the central leadership that I had joined the party with certain objectives in mind. I wanted a national platform to spread the inclusive secular ideology of both Sarat Chandra Bose and his younger brother Netaji Subash Chandra Bose on a national level. In 2014, the party was very forthcoming and clearly told me that 'yes, you join the Bharatiya Janata Party and you can use the platform to spread Netaji's message of communal harmony, inclusivity, and secularism across the nation'. We had discussed in detail about the formation of a morcha under the BJP party leadership called the Azad Hind Morcha. I had also told the party that you know, BJP is ideology is somewhat different compared to Netaji's vision and ideology. But I'm waiting even till today. A lot of people who would have got associated with the morcha spreading Netaji's ideology, refrain from joining BJP and the morcha.
Were there any other reasons behind your decision than what have been mention in your resignation letter?
I had given proposals that Bengal's politics is somewhat different compared to other states. We need to really understand Bengal here in order to really get the support of the people of Bengal. So, I said that we should give our strategy of health, education, health and infrastructure investments, we should have a memorandum and we should work on those counts. But unfortunately, it was just it was just slinging matches which went on saying that Trinamool is bad and everybody's bad. People here know what Trinamool or the Left front or are. I also suggested that you need basically three national icons to project your party in Bengal - Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Rabindranath Tagore. You have these three people as your icons in Bengali and work out a strategy of how we are going to work for the people of Bengal in terms of health, infrastructure and education.
Then in 2021, I had also worked out a strategy for the Assembly election, where I think BJP had a fairly good chance of gaining more seats. But what happened is we terribly went wrong in trying to understand Bengal. See, Bengal wants inclusive politics. Polarisation, vote bank politics, divisive politics - people of Bengal they don't appreciate it. It's only in border districts, the upper main Bengal, and North Bengal that polarisation did work. But South Bengal and Kolkata region, people all voted against us. So, I think our entire strategy went wrong in Bengal. So, I thought my purpose in BJP has probably come to an end. They gave me very flowery designation - Vice President of Bengal unit of the BJP. And I used to attend all the meetings rallies, and all the demonstrations but that's pointless. Although I wish Nadda ji all the very best for his future endeavors. But I think we have miserably failed to understand the politics of Bengal.
Was there any recent event that triggered your decision? Anything in particular happened recently within the party unit?
Yes. I think party is on the wrong move. Such insignificant issues are being highlighted. I rejected the CAA and I resigned from the Vice President's position for it in 2020. Recent trigger is this Bharat-India drama which I think is a complete waste of time. It is very clearly written in our Constitution - "India, that is Bharat is a Union of States." So, India and Bharat are synonymous. India is known world over and the name India comes from the Indus Valley civilisation. Whether the Greeks gave it or whether the British gave it, that is a non-issue. How do 140 crore people of our nation gain by changing the name from India to Bharat or Bharat to India? If you go into ancient history, it is 'Bharatvarsh', it's not even Bharat. After five years, somebody might say it should be renamed to Bharatvarsh. But who gains from all this kind of stupidity?
Were the internal issues of the West Bengal BJP also a contributing factor to your decision?
Yes! You see if you hail from very renowned family with a legacy, I think that is a hindrance, that is a negative factor because people feel that you will take their position. So, they will try to sidetrack you, keep you away from the core committee meetings. So, hailing from the family may have been an advantage to a certain extent, it may have been an advantage for the political party to get political mileage but individually if you see, I am not Netaji. I'm a very ordinary person. But people somehow say 'oh, this is Netaji's grandnephew, just sidetrack him because otherwise all our positions would be at stake.' So, this has been my experience. I don't blame anyone, I don't want to give any names. Point is people look at you with that stature and try to defame you saying he doesn't do any work so sidetrack him. I suppose that is dirty politics.
What are your future plans? There is speculation that you will be joining the TMC.
No, I'm independent as of now. See, once you join politics, there is no retirement is such as long as you breathe. I have come to work for the people of my constituency, people of Bengal, people of our nation. So, if any other party gives me an opportunity... but the main prerequisites would be that the follow the principles of both Sarat Chandra Bose and Subhas Chandra Bose of being inclusive, no divisive politics, no communal politics. If that is the approach, then I will seriously consider any such offer.
If the TMC approaches you with a similar kind of ideology, would you be open to that?
Yeah, I will. I will consider it if it comes.
Has anybody from the BJP's central leadership reached out to you to try to change your mind?
No, not yet. Because they've all been very busy today with the G20 Summit with attending to representatives and invitees of the President of 'Bharat'. I really don't know how you can issue an invitation like that without having a consensus in Parliament? You must also take the concurrence and support of our people of our nation. But I think these are not the issues. There are burning issues. The country has made great strides in technology in science. We took Chandrayaan to the moon, everything is fine. But out of 140 crore people, how many are below the poverty line? Netaji's dream of India - he wanted his political, social and economic freedom. We have achieved political freedom but we are a far cry away from attaining social and economic freedom. So, I think that is what we should work on instead of trying to change names of cities and we are now even talking about changing the name of our nation.
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