West Bengal gets tougher for BJP  

BJP's escalating unpopularity in West Bengal clearly reflected in Amit Shah's Kolkata visit on Sunday.

  Amit Shah launched the election campaign in West Bengal amidst anti-CAA protests.

Opposition parties of West Bengal, the Congress and the CPI(M), took out rallies in different parts of Kolkata in protest against the one-day visit of Amit Shah.

Hundreds of Left and Congress protesters, carrying black flags and anti-CAA posters, demonstrated outside the airport and raised 'go back' slogans.

BJP seems to be in a state of mess in West Bengal post CAA.

Inspire of gains in the Lok Sabha elections six months ago, BJP has lost ground in the state.

Many things are not going right in West Bengal,where the party has come to prominence without any political history.

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) is one of the major reasons.

The problems lie within the BJP, its State leadership, and the approach of the Centre towards State politics.

A majority of the leaders, right up to the district level, are trying to become a replica of the national leaders in language and attitude.

These leaders do not realise the importance of being local.

Even the slogan ‘Jai Sri Ram’ was borrowed from the Hindi heartland.

The ‘Hindi-culture’ of the BJP has become a common target of its political opponents.

After the stellar performance in the 2019 general election, everyone expected the party to play on front foot in Bengal.

The reverse has happened. The party failed to retain the Kharagpur seat in last by-elections, which was vacated by State president Dilip Ghosh.

There are complaints of a set of winning MPs neglecting their constituency.

Party insiders say one MP from South Bengal has not even opened his office in a major town.

A Central minister recently faced public ire for not visiting her constituency after the Lok Sabha polls.

There are reports that the Central leadership wants new faces in senior organisational positions.

Amit Shah faced strong protest as he launched the campaign on Sunday.

"Shah is not welcome here. Hands of both Modi and Shah are soaked in the blood of people killed in Gujarat riots.

The Union home minister is equally responsible for the violence in Delhi," CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said.

Amit Shah's Kolkata visit shows people's mood of against BJP, making it tougher for the upcoming elections.