Modi-Mamata: Has BJP abandoned its Bengal ambitions?

After several months of bitterness and mud-slinging, Mamata Banerjee's bonhomie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi only seems to be on an upward curve. Just weeks after meeting Mamata in March, Modi's trip to Kolkata speaks of his willingness to cement his newly formed friendship further.

BJP's lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha is one of the major reasons for Modi befriending her. Recently, the Trinamool Congress'(TMC) support has proved crucial for passing some important bills such as the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh and Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill.

In his two day-trip, Modi kept himself quite busy: He inaugurated the refurbished IISCO plant at Burnpur in Bardhaman, which falls under the constituency of BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Babul Supriyo. Further, he launched social security schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna and Atal Pension Yojna. He also visited the Dakshineshwar temple and Belur Math.

However, Modi's growing closeness to Mamata has put the BJP's Bengal unit in a fix. The gains achieved by the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections have started eroding. With the Assembly elections only a year away, the state unit of the BJP will need nothing short of a miracle to even reach anywhere close to Amit Shah's "Mission 2016" for the party. Here are three reasons why:

1. TMC hounding BJP workers: Post the civic elections, there have been numerous instances of TMC workers threatening BJP cadres and workers to either join the TMC or face violence. As TMC is the ruling party, the BJP state unit hasn't been able to do much to counter them. In Malda, a small tea-seller's shop was completely vandalised by TMC workers because he served tea and food to the BJP workers and supporters during the civic elections.

2. No support from central leadership: The state BJP unit was very enthusiastic about clamping down on the TMC by leveraging the Saradha scam investigation, but CBI's slow down on the investigation has left them red-faced. Further, Amit Shah, who has showed an unusually deep interest in Bengal, was nowhere to be seen in the civic polls. Even Nirmala Sitharaman, appointed BJP's second minder for Bengal, hasn't really shown much enthusiasm and vigour.

3. Loss of faith in the BJP: BJP improved its vote share significantly in 2014 from six per cent in the last Lok Sabha election to nearly 17 per cent, even though it won only two seats. But in the recently concluded civic body elections, results for which were announced on April 28, the party could not win even a single board out of the 92 in the state. Modi's cosiness with Mamata hasn't gone down well with many BJP supporters/voters. Amit Shah and other BJP leaders had promised to throw the TMC and Mamata out of Bengal, but given BJP's recent bonhomie, there has been a significant loss of faith amongst the voters, the brunt of which is likely to be faced by the state unit.

The BJP's Bengal unit needs a miraculous effort to even emerge as the principal opposition in the 2016 polls. Since Bengal is one of the main targets for expansion for the BJP, it needs to start working extremely hard now if it has to stand any chance of posing any formidable challenge to the TMC. Otherwise, Amit Shah's famous slogan "Bhaag Mamata Bhaag" will only remain an election jumla.