The Bengal unit of the BJP had made lofty claims promising fireworks on Thursday over the issue of Wednesday's Maheshtala unrest as a political opportunity, but the day turned out to be rather anticlimactic.
First, its legislature party failed to have the Assembly adequately disrupted or forcefully adjourned.
Second, its histrionics outside the House, led by leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar got all but blacked out in the mainstream media because of the tragic air crash in Ahmedabad.
Sources in the state leadership — on the condition of anonymity — admitted to “severe disappointment” because of the loss of media attention, and therefore crucial mass attention, just as the party was getting the Maheshtala issue ready to take off as a major polarising instrument for the electorate of key urban, semi-urban centres in and around Calcutta.
“It’s a major human tragedy of an international scale, the (Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner) plane crash. What can you do…. Tragically for us, the mainstream media’s attention will be away from us for the next few days, and it could bury Maheshtala as an issue,” said a saffron insider.
“Collective memory of most things is too short-lived anyway, nowadays. In order for Maheshtala to be adequately remembered, we needed to make a deep impression at this early stage,” he added. "This is a major drawback of over-dependence on media attention to get our job done."
In the morning, the BJP’s legislature party, led by Adhikari — in keeping with his chest-thumping assertions made on camera on Wednesday evening — had tried its best to disrupt the Assembly, but in vain.
Adhikari and his team of a few dozen MLAs were ready with various saffron-coloured paraphernalia bearing religious symbols to express premeditated outrage in the well of the House as soon as Speaker Biman Banerjee rejected their adjournment motions over allegedly communal unrest in Maheshtala and Murshidabad.
Accusing the government of being anti-Hindu, the BJP MLAs raised angry slogans with varying degrees of communalism. But the Treasury benches — in what seemed to be a strategic move – allowed the protests to continue in the well while the House proceedings went on.
“It was quite disappointing, as we couldn’t bring the House to its knees with the disruption and have it adjourned, as promised (by Adhikari). They were one step ahead of us,” said a source in the saffron camp.
The Question Hour was followed by the Zero Hour, and the House, rather unusually, continued without a break till Team Adhikari gave up and left.
Outside, eager to make up in front of television cameras, Adhikari started leading a rally of BJP MLAs to Raj Bhavan next door, to meet governor C.V. Ananda Bose and seek his intervention on Maheshtala. Adhikari walked barefoot, with a tulsi plant in a pot on his head.
“Mother Tulsi’s insult won’t be tolerated in Hindustan,” said the Nandigram MLA, referring to an alleged incident at Maheshtala.
Reaching the Raj Bhavan gates, assuming the keen attention of the mainstream media would still be there when they emerge from the meeting with Bose, Adhikari declined requests for a media interaction and went in with the MLAs.
However, not long after, the news of the plane crash in Ahmedabad broke, and the media focus shifted completely.
The MLAs claimed that the governor had given them a patient hearing and promised to report it to the Centre.
A fairly fierce protest programme near chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence in the afternoon, conducted by state unit chief Majumdar (who is also a junior member of the Narendra Modi cabinet), almost went unnoticed.
Other activities of the BJP that would otherwise be widely reported, such as Adhikari moving Calcutta High Court demanding an NIA probe and deployment of central forces in the affected area, his appeal to the chief of the Diamond Harbour police district for clearance to visit affected families in Maheshtala — if denied, he is likely to move the high court for permission — were largely overlooked.