Bengal Bypolls: We are hitting TMC goons the way they hurt us, says West Bengal BJP chief

Dilip Ghosh, West Bengal BJP chief, speaks to Prerna Katiyar about the party’s strategy to counter Mamata Banerjee. Edited excerpts:

BJP’s Lok Sabha seats went up from 2 to 18 in 2019. What is your target for the 2021 state polls?
People of West Bengal have always liked us but we neither had organisation nor leadership. People in the state expect parties to come out on the roads and do andolan (agitation). Except for Syama Prasad Mookerjee, we had no face here earlier. There was a lot of gundagardi by the TMC . We were stopped from unfurling our flag or filing nomination papers for elections. Soon we changed tact and did what the people wanted. The result was that from 17% vote share in 2014, we increased it to 40% in 2019. We feel positive about the upcoming by-elections as well as state polls. We will get a majority in 2021.

Isn’t Didi Ke Bolo working for Mamata?
Ask the public. The programme is an eyewash. Neither her MLAs nor she is accessible to the public. There is so much corruption. Wherever they go, people hound them, holding them by their collars and asking them to return the ‘cut money’. TMC leaders even took ‘cut money’ for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and shauchalaya (toilets). Now people are saying ‘nikalo paise’, making life difficult for legislators. We have assured people that we are behind them and support them.

You made a statement that BJP men should hit TMC leaders. Why did you say that?
We are not just saying that, we are doing it. Don’t forget that we lost 87 karyakartas since 2013. Since 2015, when I took over, there have been 75 murders. Every week, there used to be a murder. We are giving them a reply in the language they understand. When even the police is not with us, we had no option but to take revenge.

Mamata says RSS workers are killing TMC leaders.
Why did she keep quiet till now? Now that we are openly protesting and have started hitting out, she is raising her voice.

How do you see Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee as a politician?
He is not a politician but an extortionist. Be it coal mining, sand mining or cow smuggling, he receives ‘cut money’ per animal or per vehicle and has made thousands of crores this way. The police collects money and delivers it to him.

Now that Sourav Ganguli has been made BCCI president, there is a feeling that he may be fielded against Mamata in 2021. Your comments.
What is wrong with that? Was he not capable as a captain? If BJP has given him some responsibility, is it a bad thing? Why didn’t TMC do it? He has brought laurels to India as a cricketer. If he joins the BJP formally, who will stop him? So many people have joined BJP this way.

You recently said desi cows’ milk have gold. What was the basis for making such a statement?
Everything has gold in traces. When urine has gold, won’t cow milk have it. This is a very old belief. If someone has not researched on it, does that mean it is not true? Why do you hurt our belief system? Communists will oppose our ideology. If you feel there is no gold, then prove it. If not, tum apna gyan badao (you must increase your knowledge). But how will you know? There is no cow left in Bengal, so how will they know anything about the animal. They have eaten them all or sent to Bangladesh. Netas here eat beef in the open just to hurt us. I want to say: eat cow, dog or anything, eat it inside your homes.