Form of words:
Kolkata: His photographs along with BJP stalwarts such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani adorn the walls of his office in Kolkata; The bookshelf includes his own work on Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
For Tathagata Roy, even his party’s credentials are impressive – he led the BJP’s West Bengal unit for four years between 2002 and 2006, and was a member of the national executive for 13 years (2002–2015). are.
Roy also served as the governor of Tripura (2015-2018) and Meghalaya (2018-2020).
But for the past year, since his term ended in April 2020, Roy says he has been struggling to get “active membership” of the BJP. He told ThePrint that he had quit after becoming the governor of Tripura in 2015.
An active membership is a step above the normal membership of the BJP, which simply involves giving a missed call to the party number. Ordinary members do not participate in the regular affairs of the BJP. One has to apply for active membership, fill a form and deposit a fee of Rs.200. Active members become a part of the party, can go to the party office and participate in the party work.
In an exclusive conversation with ThePrint, Roy said that in order to gain his active membership, he had repeatedly sent requests, applications and sought meetings with senior central leaders, including general secretaries BL Santosh and Kailash Vijayvargiya, but all of them been ignored.
Instead, she told ThePrint, “beautiful women, mostly starlets who never had anything to do with politics”, received immediate membership and a certain seat.
“It is really unfortunate that a group of party leaders chose Trinamool goons and left out loyal soldiers like me. Was I not even eligible to subscribe?” He asked. “I have served the party for more than four decades now and have held high positions. How can these leaders humiliate me like this? Being a loyalist, I gave a missed call and became an ordinary member.
Sources close to Roy said he also advocated joining the National Executive Committee, but was turned down, while former Trinamool minister Rajiv Banerjee was included in the committee in October. Two weeks later, Banerjee returned to the Trinamool.
,Whistleblower of BJP
The controversial Rai, who has a history of making communally charged remarks, is not taking this condemnation lightly. He now calls himself a “whistleblower”, and told ThePrint that he is on a mission to “expose the corrupt in the BJP”. Their twitter bio Also denotes their “mission”.
“When my term as governor came to an end, I expressed my desire to rejoin the party and contribute to the politics of Bengal. I never asked for a post or ticket. I went and met Vijayvargiya and then state president Dilip Ghosh. “I requested him to re-induct me in the party and I told him that I would work under Ghosh’s leadership,” he said. But, for some unknown reason, they never responded to my requests. I know many secrets and will reveal them.”
Roy further said that he wanted an active membership as he had given up his party membership in 2015, when he became the governor.
“Now I understand why they did not want me inside the party. Things were very wrong. The party which had won 18 seats in the general election (2019), lost all three by-elections in the same year. “There was no analysis on that. Every serious party does. Vijayvargiya and his pawn Dilip Ghosh didn’t work for the party. The old guard has been sidelined for a reason. Central leaders indulge themselves in money and women.” started doing
Roy claimed that he met BL Santosh, national general secretary (organisation) and party’s national president JP Nadda in Delhi and submitted a report.
“I submitted 10 page report to Nadda”Yes, I explained everything to him and he assured me of support. But nothing happened here,” he said.
Roy has been tweeting against his party leaders, especially Vijayvargiya and Ghosh. He claims that he was never questioned by any top leader or RSS functionary for his tweet.
“Social media is the only place where I can express my views, and people need to know. If there was no social media, my voice would have faded.” He said, ‘I never wanted to embarrass the party and hence I tried to reach out to every possible place to express my concern. But I remain unheard. ,
‘Roy a liability’
However, top BJP leaders feel that Roy has now become a burden.
“He is no one for us. Our senior leaders in Delhi know everything about him. He is just disappointed. He knows the process in the party structure, but still he has put his party to shame after the defeat in Bengal elections. Never stopped from doing it,” said a top central leader, who did not wish to be named.Yes Asked him to keep quiet for some time and support the party, but he did not agree. BL SantosoYes Even scolded him for being such a loose cannon, but he never stopped. He is embarrassing the party and has become a liability.
Vijayvargiya, who declined to comment on Roy’s allegations against him, said, “There is nothing that our central leaders do not know. They are well aware of what is happening. He made me general secretary again. So the party has not lost faith in me. Tathagata Roy doesn’t matter.”
Ghosh, who is no longer the state president, said, “We don’t really give him that much importance. These are difficult times and we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with our workers. This is not the time for public controversy or blame. We all expected a little maturity from him. What did he give to the party and what did the party give him. He should consider it someday.”
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
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