Hindu Samhati, a popular pro-Hindu organisation active in West Bengal, announced the formation of its political party, Jana Samhati on Sunday. The party will contest the West Bengal assembly polls that are due in March-April this year.
The party plans to contest at least 170 of the 294 seats.
Hindu Samhati was formed in 2008
Hindu Samhati, which observed its foundation day on Sunday, has grown in several districts of the Eastern state, especially in south Bengal. The organisation was founded in 2008 by Tapan Ghosh, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak. Ghosh died in July 2020 after having been diagnosed with COVID-19 a fortnight before his death.
The group regularly monitors and reports violence against Hindus in West Bengal. It also works with both governmental and other NGO agencies to ensure protection and legal support to the persecuted Hindu populace in West Bengal. The group has been instrumental in the return of several Hindu women and minors who were abducted by members belonging to a particular community.
The Hindu Samhati made headlines during the Basirhat communal riots in 2017 when Tapan Ghosh provided legal protection to two Hindu minor boys whose lives were threatened.
“Hindu Samhati will continue to work as an independent organization. The Jana Samhati, which has been registered as a political party, will contest 40 seats in north Bengal and 130 in the south Bengal. Right now, we have no plans to have allies. We supported the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but there has been a paradigm shift in its position since then. Common people have to pay a price if it comes to power in Bengal. Hindus are losing their faith in the BJP,” Debtanu Bhattacharya, president of the Jana Samhati, said.
Registered as an NGO, Hindu Samhati has often been at odds with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Hindu Samhati had backed the BJP in 2019 but the leadership has now returned to its old position.
“The BJP is making false promises on the new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Several Hindu groups from Assam and Tripura are in touch with us. Hindus are languishing in detention camps in Assam. In Bengal, the backward Matua community, which demanded enforcement of the Citizenship Amendment Act, is being used as a pawn to secure votes,” Debtanu Bhattacharya added.
Bhattacharya is heading Hindu Samhati since mid-2018 when Ghosh quit the organisation. Around the same time, a group of Hindu Samhati leaders also left and formed an organisation called Singha Bahini which is headed by Devdutta Maji.
Last month, Maji joined the BJP and appealed to all Hindu groups outside the Sangh Parivar to support the BJP in the coming polls.
‘Contest only between BJP and TMC’, says BJP spokesperson
The West Bengal unit of the BJP has said that it plans to win at least 200 seats in Bengal, where Muslims comprise about 30 per cent of the population. The party performed well in the 2019 Lok Sabha seats, winning 18 of the state’s 42 seats.
Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the WB BJP, said that any political party can join the race but it will essentially remain a two-party contest between the BJP and the TMC. “In a democracy, all are free to contest but the smaller forces will become ringside viewers,” Bhattacharya stated.
Jana Samhati’s entry into the electoral fray adds yet another element to Bengal’s politics and the burgeoning growth of Hindutva politics in India.
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