West Bengal to ‘West Bangladesh’ in the guise of language pride
Regional identity battles and language flashpoints are testing the BJP’s national pitch ahead of elections
One of the great imponderables of Indian politics is knowing when the national sentiment is predominant and when regional angularities must be accommodated. The choice is never pre-determined and even the best strategists often get it wrong.
Recently, a mid-level BJP functionary narrated the pitfalls of a one-size-fits-all approach. His experience of how the party commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019 was instructive. Apparently, there was a directive from Delhi to organise padayatras that would involve someone dressed up like the Mahatma — maybe an invocation of the Dandi march. The local party’s feeble protests that the programme, in the height of summer, would clash with local elections was brushed aside. The marches were organised, but they lacked any local connect.
