On Saturday, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former adjudicator of the Calcutta High Court who is now a contender for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), submitted his candidacy for the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has nominated Debangshu Bhattacharya for the same constituency.
Speaking in Tamluk about the TMC, Gangopadhyay remarked, “I do not belittle the opposition, but I observe their absence in the arena of contention.” Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who relinquished his position as a Judge of the Calcutta High Court, aligned with the BJP in March.
Previously, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh criticized Abhijit Gangopadhyay for his comments concerning Mahatma Gandhi and Nathuram Godse. Ramesh denounced, “It is beyond lamentable that a former judge of the Calcutta High Court, who resigned to participate in the Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate endorsed by none other than the Prime Minister, now professes his inability to discern between Gandhi and Godse.”
“This is utterly unacceptable, and his candidacy should be retracted immediately by those who spare no endeavor to lay claim to the legacy of the Mahatma. What will the Father of the Do-nation do to safeguard the Father of the Nation?” Jairam Ramesh conveyed on X. Gangopadhyay expressed on a Bengali channel that he found it difficult to ‘distinguish between Gandhi and Godse’.
The legal practitioner turned politician emphasized the necessity to peruse the literature penned by Gandhi’s assailant Nathuram Godse, elucidating on the motives that incited him to assassinate the Father of the Nation. “As an individual hailing from the legal fraternity, I must endeavor to comprehend the opposing perspective. I must delve into his (Nathuram Godse’s) writings and apprehend what impelled him to perpetrate the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Until then, I am incapable of making a distinction between Gandhi and Godse,” Gangopadhyay articulated in an interview with a media outlet.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, TMC’s Dibyendu Adhikari triumphed over BJP’s Sidhartha Shankar Naskar in Tamluk by a significant margin of 1,90,165 votes. Historically, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has maintained a firm grip on West Bengal. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC emerged as the predominant entity, clinching 34 seats in the state. Conversely, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured merely 2 seats.
The CPI (M) and the Congress attained 2 and 4 seats, respectively. Nevertheless, there was a notable shift in the political landscape during the 2019 elections. The BJP’s tally surged to 18 seats, marking a sharp deviation from their previous count. Although the TMC retained its lead, its seat count dwindled to 22. The Congress’s representation plummeted to a mere 2 seats, while the Left Front failed to secure any seats.
The alteration in the power dynamics has engendered an intensely competitive political ambiance. The BJP, having emerged victorious in the 2019 elections, is now exerting concerted efforts to dislodge the TMC from its stronghold and establish itself as the predominant political entity in West Bengal. The forthcoming elections will serve as a pivotal juncture for both parties as they endeavor to showcase their political prowess and gain ascendancy.