While the election in West Bengal is still some time away, and other state battles will be in focus before the term of the assembly expires in 2021, the Bhartiya Janata Party will hope its bid to unseat the government of Ms Mamata Banerjee gets a boost from the return to active politics of former Governor Tathagata Roy.

While the saffron party had achieved remarkable success in its Lok Sabha essay in 2019, its aspirations to rule the state have been hamstrung by the absence of a leader to take on the mercurial Ms Banerjee, who remains immensely popular with many sections of the electorate. While it is open to question whether Mr Roy is that leader, considering his less than spectacular record in fighting elections in the state, his erudition, scholastic record and professional background as an engineer of some repute, will definitely make him a contender.

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Certainly, it is no secret that the other options available to the BJP do not inspire confidence as potential Chief Ministerial candidates.
While the party’s state unit chief, Dilip Ghosh, is credited with the successful essay in 2019, even he would admit the 18 seats the party won were more because of a nationwide surge in support for his party ~ and Ms Banerjee’s attempt to pitch her focus on the Prime Minister instead of dwelling on her own accomplishments ~ than his own considerable exertions. Imports from the Trinamool Congress such as Mr Mukul Roy are largely seen as
opportunists and the BJP must realise that the Tripura model of parachuting in a leader with roots in the state and accomplishments elsewhere will not quite work in Bengal. All these factors may have propelled Mr Roy to take the plunge. But will it work?

Mr Roy is no spring chicken; he will be 75 going on 76 when the election comes around. He has been away from active politics for the past five years, having occupied Raj Bhawans in Agartala and Shillong. His stint as head of the state unit of the party was nearly 15 years ago. Additionally, he is no stranger to controversy and some of his statements while serving as Governor, including a call to boycott Kashmir and another to wrap bodies of terrorists in pigskin (which was later deleted), were found inedible by many.

Certainly, his presence and his utterances ~ unless he has mellowed significantly – will polarise an already polarised electorate further and might well lead to a bloody election. The BJP has not announced a specific role for Mr Roy in the lead-up to 2021 and may wait a little before it does so. But Bengal’s election pot has begun to simmer with his return and could well come to a boil in the next few month