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Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal

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Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal
ভারতীয় জনতা পার্টি, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ
AbbreviationBJP
LeaderSuvendu Adhikari
(Leader of Opposition)
PresidentDr. Sukanta Majumdar
General SecretaryAmitava Chakroborty
SpokespersonSamik Bhattacharya
Yuva Morcha presidentIndranil Khan
Headquarters6, Muralidhar Sen Lane, College Square, Kolkata-700073, West Bengal
NewspaperKamal Barta
Student wingABVP
Youth wingBharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, West Bengal
Women's wingBJP Mahila Morcha, West Bengal
IdeologyConservatism[1]
Neoliberalism[2]
Right-wing populism[3]
Nationalism[4]
Hindutva[5]
Integral humanism[6]
Political positionRight-wing to far-right [7]
ReligionHinduism[8]
Colours  Saffron
SloganSabka Sath Sabka Bikash Sabka Biswas Sabka Prayas
AllianceNational Democratic Alliance
AdvocateKoustav Bagchi
Seats in West Bengal Legislative Assembly
66 / 294
Seats in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
0 / 50
Seats in Lok Sabha
12 / 42
Seats in Rajya Sabha
2 / 16
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
bjpbengal.org

Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal is the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Indian state of West Bengal. The party's headquarters is located in Kolkata, the capital of the state. Sukanta Majumdar is currently appointed as the president of BJP, West Bengal.

The party currently holds 2 seat in the Rajya Sabha and 12 seats in the Lok Sabha from the state. Furthermore, the party has 67 seats in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

History

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Predecessors and formation

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The origins of the BJP lies in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Syama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of the BJS, was born in Calcutta (Now Kolkata), while K. B. Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS also studied in the city. In the 1960s, plenty of RSS offices opened across the state. They mostly worked with Marwari traders as well as migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in Kolkata’s Burrabazar. By late 1960s, local meetings were conducted in Bengali as well.[9]

Electoral performance

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Vote share in consecutive assembly elections
2021
 
 38.14%
2016
 
 10.16%
2011
 
 6.52%
2006
 
 1.93%
2001
 
 5.19%
1996
 
 6.45%
1991
 
 11.34%
1987
 
 0.51%
1982
 
 0.58%
Vote share in consecutive Lok Sabha elections
2024
 
 38.73%
2019
 
 40.25%
2014
 
 17.02%
2009
 
 6.14%
2004
 
 8.06%
1999
 
 11.13%
1998
 
 10.2%
1996
 
 6.88%
1991
 
 11.66%
1989
 
 1.67%
1984
 
 0.4%

1980s

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The BJP started its operation within the state from the grassroots level of governance, particularly the panchayat politics. The party also used various cultural icons in the state, including Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Swami Vivekananda in its election campaigns.[10]

The Bharatiya Janata Party contested the West Bengal assembly election for the first time in 1982.[11] The primary objective of the party was to create a nucleus for a future third force in West Bengal politics.[11] The party supported the call of the West Bengal government to hold the elections in March 1982.[12] The party contested on 52 assembly constituencies and got around 129,994 votes in the state.

In 1984 Lok Sabha election, BJP contested on 9 seats and got 101165 (0.4%) votes in West Bengal.[13]

In the 1987 the party contested on 57 constituencies and slightly increased its votes to 134,867.[14]

In 1989 Lok Sabha election, BJP contested on 19 seats and got 529618 (1.67%) votes in West Bengal.[15]

1990s

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The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded 291 candidates across the state in 1991 Vidhan Sabha election, and managed to increase its share of votes from 0.51% in 1987 to 11.34% (3,513,121 votes).[16][11] This was the first time BJP fielded such a large number of candidates in West Bengal assembly elections.[11] The party also fielded 42 candidates for the 1991 Lok Sabha election which took place simultaneously with the Vidhan Sabha election. The BJP got 3624974 (11.66%) votes in this election. Rather than focusing primarily on the Ayodhya issue, which was highlighted in the BJP campaigns across the country, the West Bengal BJP campaign concentrated on agitations against immigration from Bangladesh.[17] The campaign sought to invoke Bengali memories of Partition.[17] While support for BJP increased among Bengali communities, its main stronghold in the state remained non-Bengali populations in Calcutta (Marwaris and Gujaratis).[17] Besides this, the party was able to mobilize the rural voters who were not benefitted from Left government’s land reforms.[10]

In 1996, both Assembly election and Lok Sabha election took place simultaneously, the party contested on 292 assembly constituencies and got 2,372,480 (6.45%) votes[18] and contested 42 Lok Sabha seats and got 2525864 (6.88%) votes across the state.[19]

In 1998, the BJP contested on 14 seats and won 1 Lok Sabha seat for the first time in West Bengal from Dum Dum. It got 3724662 (10.2%) votes.[20] Tapan Sikdar, who was serving as the West Bengal State President of BJP, won the Dum Dum constituency with 631,383 (50.7%) votes defeating nearest rival Nirmal Kanti Chatterjee of the CPI (M).[21]

In 1999, the BJP in an alliance with All India Trinamool Congress contested 13 seats and won 2 Lok Sabha seats and got 3,928,424 votes (11.13).[22] The two elected Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha were Satyabrata Mookherjee from Krishnanagar with 43.82% votes and Tapan Sikdar from Dum Dum with 51.59% votes.[23]

2000s

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In 2001 Assembly election, BJP contested on 266 constituencies and got 1901351 (5.19%) votes throughout the state and 5.68% in seats contested.[24]

In the 2004 Indian general election, the National Democratic Alliance was completely decimated by CPI (M) led Left Front and INC led United Progressive Alliance. The BJP didn't win a single seat and its ally All India Trinamool Congress was reduced to just 1 Lok Sabha seat.[25] The BJP however managed to get 2983950 (8.06%) votes.[26]

In the 2006 Assembly election, BJP entered into an alliance with the All India Trinamool Congress and contested on 29 constituencies. The BJP got 760236 (1.93%) votes throughout West Bengal and 19.89% on seats it contested.[27]

In 2009 Indian general election, BJP candidate Jaswant Singh, with support from Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat getting a total of 4,97,649 (51.50%) votes. Across the state BJP got only 6.14% votes.[28]

2010s

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In 2011 Legislative Assembly election the BJP allied with GJM.[29]

In 2014 Indian general election the BJP won only 2 seats. BJP candidates for the first time, returned runner-up in 3 seats and got 17.2% vote share throughout the state. This performance was better than BJP's previous best of 11.66% in 1991 elections. However the All India Trinamool Congress dominated the election winning 34 seats.[30]

In 2016 Assembly election the BJP in an alliance with GJM contested 291 seats and got 5,555,134 (10.16%) votes and created history by winning 3 assembly seats for the first time.[31]

There was a major political shift from the left to the right in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in West Bengal. The Bharatiya Janata Party, won 18 Lok Sabha seats out of the 42 constituencies with 23,028,343 (40.25%) votes. On 24 May 2019, The Statesman reported that BJP had made CPI-M a marginalised party and setting a strong challenge to the ruling Trinamool Congress.[32] The shift in the voting pattern was seen across the state.[33]

After the election the Government of India passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) in the Parliament, allowing a quicker route to citizenship to non Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries. The party hoped to benefit from the votes of the Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh.[34][35]

Post 2020

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The BJP's Bengali booklet released in January 2020 claimed that the National Register of Citizens will be implemented to identify any undocumented migrants including Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and non-Muslims by the Citizenship Amendment Act.[36][37]

Electoral performance

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Legislative Assembly election

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Year Seats won Change in seats Percentage of votes Vote swing Outcome
1982
0 / 294
  – 0.58%  – None
1987
0 / 294
  – 0.51% Decrease 0.07% None
1991
0 / 294
  – 11.34% Increase 10.83% None
1996
0 / 294
  – 6.45% Decrease 4.89% None
2001
0 / 294
  – 5.19% Decrease 1.26% None
2006
0 / 294
  – 1.93% Decrease 3.26% None
2011
0 / 294
  – 4.06% Increase 2.13% None
2016
3 / 294
 Increase 3 10.16% Increase 6.1% Opposition
2021
77 / 294
 Increase 74 38.14% Increase 27.98% Opposition

Lok Sabha election

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Year Seats won Change in seats
1998
1 / 42
 Steady
1999
2 / 42
 Increase 1
2004
0 / 42
 Decrease 2
2009
1 / 42
 Increase 1
2014
2 / 42
 Increase 1
2019
18 / 42
 Increase 16
2024
12 / 42
 Decrease 6

Leadership

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The West Bengal BJP has one president, twelve vice-presidents and five general secretaries & twelve secretaries.[38] As of September 2021, the President of the West Bengal state branch of the party is Dr. Sukanta Majumder.

Dilip Ghosh is most successful president.During his leadership party gain 18 MP in 2019 lok sabha election. And in 2021 Vidhan sabha election party gain 77 MLA.

List of opposition leaders

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No Portrait Name Constituency Term Assembly Chief Minister
1 Suvendu Adhikari Nandigram 10 May 2021 Incumbent 3 years, 233 days 17th Mamata Banerjee

List of State Presidents

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This article is about the chronological List of State Presidents of Bharatiya Janata Party for West Bengal. For List of All India Presidents, see List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
No. Name Term in office
1 Prof. Haripada Bharati 1980–1982
2 Dr. Vishnukant Shastri 1982–1986
3 Sukumar Banerjee 1986–1991
4 Tapan Sikdar 1991–1995
(2) Dr. Vishnukant Shastri 1995–1997
(4) Tapan Sikdar 1997–1999
5 Asim Ghosh 1999–2002
6 Tathagata Roy 2002–2006
(3) Sukumar Banerjee 2006–2008
7 Satyabrata Mookherjee 2008–2009
8 Rahul Sinha 2009–2015
9 Dilip Ghosh 2015–2021
10 Dr. Sukanta Majumder 2021–Incumbent

Elected members

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Incumbent member(s) of Lok Sabha

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S.No. Constituency Name Win Margin in 2024
# Name
01. 2 Alipurduars Manoj Tigga 75,447
02. 3 Jalpaiguri Jayanta Kumar Roy 86,693
03. 4 Darjeeling Raju Bista 1,78,525
04. 5 Raiganj Kartick Chandra Paul 68,197
05. 6 Balurghat Sukanta Majumdar 10,386
06. 7 Maldaha Uttar Khagen Murmu 77,708
07. 13 Ranaghat Jagannath Sarkar 1,86,899
08. 14 Bangaon Shantanu Thakur 73,693
09. 30 Tamluk Abhijit Gangopadhyay 77,733
10. 31 Kanthi Soumendu Adhikari 47,764
11. 35 Purulia Jyotirmay Singh Mahato 17,079
12. 37 Bishnupur Saumitra Khan 5,567

Incumbent member(s) of Legislative Assembly

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S.No. Constituency Name Remarks Win Margin in 2021
# Name
Cooch Behar District
01. 2 Mathabhanga Sushil Barman 26,134
02. 3 Cooch Behar Uttar Sukumar Roy 14,615
03. 4 Cooch Behar Dakshin Nikhil Ranjan Dey 4,799
04. 5 Sitalkuchi Baren Chandra Barman 17,815
05. 8 Natabari Mihir Goswami Deputy Leader of Opposition 23,440
06. 9 Tufanganj Malati Rava Roy 31,198
Alipurduar District
07. 10 Kumargram Manoj Kumar Oraon 11,001
08. 11 Kalchini Bishal Lama 28,576
09. 13 Falakata Dipak Barman 3,990
Jalpaiguri District
10. 16 Maynaguri Kaushik Roy 11,911
11. 19 Dabgram-Phulbari Sikha Chatterjee 27,593
12. 21 Nagrakata Puna Bhengra 14,402
Darjeeling District
13. 23 Darjeeling Neeraj Zimba 21,726
14. 24 Kurseong Bishnu Prasad Sharma 15,515
15. 25 Matigara-Naxalbari Anandamoy Barman 70,848
16. 26 Siliguri Shankar Ghosh Chief Whip 35,586
17. 27 Phansidewa Durga Murmu 27,711
Uttar Dinajpur District
18. 34 Kaliaganj Soumen Roy 21,820
Dakshin Dinajpur District
19. 39 Balurghat Ashok Lahiri 12,899
20. 40 Tapan Budhrai Tudu 1,650
21. 41 Gangarampur Satyendra Nath Ray 4,592
Malda District
22. 43 Habibpur Joyel Murmu 19,517
23. 44 Gazole Chinmoy Deb Barman 1,798
24. 50 Maldaha Gopal Chandra Saha 15,456
25. 51 English Bazar Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury 20,099
Murshidabad District
26. 64 Murshidabad Gouri Shankar Ghosh 2,491
27. 72 Baharampur Subrata Maitra 26,852
Nadia District
28. 87 Ranaghat Uttar Paschim Parthasarathi Chatterjee 23,128
29. 88 Krishnaganj Ashis Kumar Biswas 21,277
30. 89 Ranaghat Uttar Purba Ashim Biswas 31,782
31. 91 Chakdaha Bankim Chandra Ghosh 11,680
32. 92 Kalyani Ambika Roy 2,206
33. 93 Haringhata Ashim Kumar Sarkar 15,200
North 24 Parganas District
34. 95 Bangaon Uttar Ashok Kirtania 10,488
35. 96 Bangaon Dakshin Swapan Majumder 2,004
36. 97 Gaighata Subrata Thakur 9,578
37. 105 Bhatpara Pawan Kumar Singh 13,687
Hooghly District
38. 199 Pursurah Biman Ghosh 28,178
39. 200 Arambagh Madhusudan Bag 7,172
40. 201 Goghat Biswanath Karak 4,147
41. 202 Khanakul Susanta Ghosh 12,884
Purba Medinipur District
42. 206 Moyna Ashok Dinda 1,260
43. 209 Haldia Tapasi Mondal 15,008
44. 210 Nandigram Suvendu Adhikari Leader of Opposition 1,956
45. 213 Kanthi Uttar Sumita Sinha 9,330
46. 214 Bhagabanpur Rabindranath Maity 27,549
47. 215 Khejuri Santanu Pramanik 17,965
48. 216 Kanthi Dakshin Arup Kumar Das 10,293
Paschim Medinipur District
49. 224 Kharagpur Sadar Hiran Chatterjee 3,771
50. 231 Ghatal Sital Kapat 966
Purulia District
51. 239 Balarampur Baneswar Mahato 273
52. 241 Joypur Narahari Mahato 12,102
53. 242 Purulia Sudip Kumar Mukherjee 6,585
54. 244 Kashipur Kamalakanta Hansda 7,240
55. 245 Para Nadiar Chand Bouri 3,944
56. 246 Raghunathpur Vivekananda Bauri 5,323
Bankura District
57. 247 Saltora Chandana Bauri 4,145
58. 248 Chhatna Satyanarayan Mukhopadhyay 7,164
59. 252 Bankura Niladri Sekhar Dana 1,468
60. 254 Onda Amarnath Shakha 11,551
61. 257 Indas Nirmal Kumar Dhara 7,220
62. 258 Sonamukhi Dibakar Gharami 5,323
Paschim Bardhaman District
63. 277 Durgapur Paschim Lakshman Chandra Ghorui 14,664
64. 280 Asansol Dakshin Agnimitra Paul 4,487
65. 282 Kulti Ajay Kumar Poddar 679
Birbhum District
66. 284 Dubrajpur Anup Kumar Saha 3,863

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^
    • Johnson, Matthew; Garnett, Mark; Walker, David M (2017). Conservatism and Ideology. Routledge. pp. 45–50. ISBN 978-1-317-52900-2.
    • Björn Goldstein (2015) The unconscious Indianization of 'Western' conservatism – is Indian conservatism a universal model?, Global Discourse, 5:1, 44-65, doi:10.1080/23269995.2014.946315
    • Mazumdar, Surajit (2017). "Neo-Liberalism and the Rise of Right-Wing Conservatism in India". 5 (1). Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich: 115–131. Retrieved 24 April 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
      —Chhibber, Pradeep. K. and Verma, Rahul (2018). Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 50–150. ISBN 978-0-190-62390-6. LCCN 2018001733.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^
  3. ^
    • McDonnell, Duncan; Cabrera, Luis (2019). "The right-wing populism of India's Bharatiya Janata Party (and why comparativists should care)". Democratization. 26 (3): 484–501. doi:10.1080/13510347.2018.1551885. S2CID 149464986.
    • Özçelik, Ezgi (2019). Right-wing Populist Governments Rhetorical Framing of Economic Inequality : the Cases of BJP in India and AKP in Turkey. Koç University.
  4. ^
  5. ^ —Chatterji, Angana P.; Hansen, Thomas Blom; Jaffrelot, Christophe (2019). Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism Is Changing India. Oxford University Press. pp. 100–130. ISBN 978-0-19-007817-1.
    —Jaffrelot, Christophe, and Cynthia Schoch. "Conclusion to Part I." In Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy, 148–54. Princeton University Press, 2021. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1dc9jzx.12.
    —Chhibber, Pradeep K. and Verma, Rahul (2018). Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-190-62390-6. LCCN 2018001733.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Johnson, Matthew; Garnett, Mark; Walker, David M (2017). Conservatism and Ideology. Routledge. pp. 45–50. ISBN 978-1-317-52900-2.
  7. ^ Malik & Singh 1992, pp. 318–336; Banerjee 2005, p. 3118; BBC 2012.
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Gupta, Smita (15 May 2019). "The rise of the BJP in West Bengal". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  10. ^ a b Hussain, Md. Iftekhar (2023). "The rise of the BJP in West Bengal: A study of Lok Shaba and assembly election" (PDF). International Journal Political Science Governance.
  11. ^ a b c d Pratap Chandra Swain (2001). Bharatiya Janata Party: Profile and Performance. APH Publishing. p. 194. ISBN 978-81-7648-257-8.
  12. ^ The Annual Register of Indian Political Parties. Michiko & Panjathan. 1982. p. 108.
  13. ^ "General Election, 1984 (Vol I, II)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  14. ^ "West Bengal 1987". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  15. ^ "General Election, 1989 (Vol I, II)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  16. ^ Election Commission of India. Statistical Report on General Election, 1991 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal
  17. ^ a b c Christophe Jaffrelot (1999). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: 1925 to the 1990s : Strategies of Identity-building, Implantation and Mobilisation (with Special Reference to Central India). Penguin Books India. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-14-024602-5.
  18. ^ Election Commission of India. Statistical Report on General Election, 1996 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal
  19. ^ "General Election, 1996 (Vol I, II)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  20. ^ "General Election, 1998 (Vol I, II)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India.
  21. ^ "General Elections, 1998 - Constituency Wise Detailed Results" (PDF). West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  22. ^ "General Elections 1999 – Overview of West Bengal : General Elections-2004". Press Information Bureau. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  23. ^ "General Elections, 1999 - Constituency Wise Detailed Results" (PDF). West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  24. ^ "West Bengal 2001". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  25. ^ "Why did the NDA lose West Bengal?". rediff. 14 May 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  26. ^ "General Election, 2004 (Vol I, II, III)". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  27. ^ "Election Commission of India - State Elections 2006: Partywise position in West Bengal". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 23 May 2006.
  28. ^ "IndiaVotes PC: West Bengal 2009". IndiaVotes. India Votes Database.
  29. ^ "GJM backing both BJP and Congress-Trinamul alliance". The Asian Age. 9 April 2011.
  30. ^ "The rise of BJP in West Bengal | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  31. ^ "It's 'Mamata wave' in West Bengal as voters reject Congress-Left alliance". Ritesh K Srivastava. Zee News. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  32. ^ "West Bengal election results 2019: left veers into political oblivion". The Statesman, 24 May 2019. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  33. ^ Bagchi, Suvojit (23 May 2019). "Analysis: In West Bengal, Left's vote-reduction will benefit BJP but to what extent?". The Hindu. The Hindu 23 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  34. ^ Romita Datta, Why no one will douse the CAA fire in Bengal, India Today, 10 January 2020
  35. ^ Kaushik Deka, Who is (not) a citizen?, India Today, 10 January 2020
  36. ^ Amended citizenship law will shield Hindus when NRC will be rolled out, says BJP's Bengali booklet, Scroll, 7 January 2020
  37. ^ NRC next, says BJP's Bengali booklet on CAA, The Indian Express, 7 January 2020
  38. ^ Pooja Mehta (1 June 2020). "Major reshuffle in West Bengal BJP unit, Chandra Bose shunted out". zeenews.india.com. Kolkata: Zee News. Retrieved 2 June 2020.

General and cited sources

[edit]
  • Malik, Yogendra K.; Singh, V.B. (April 1992). "Bharatiya Janata Party: An Alternative to the Congress (I)?". Asian Survey. 32 (4): 318–336. doi:10.2307/2645149. JSTOR 2645149.
  • Banerjee, Sumanta (22 July 2005). "Civilising the BJP". Economic & Political Weekly. 40 (29): 3116–3119. JSTOR 4416896.
  • Halarnkar, Samar (13 June 2012). "Narendra Modi makes his move". BBC News. The right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's primary opposition party
[edit]
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