Dilip Ghosh (politician)
Dilip Ghosh (born 1 August 1964) a well-known politician from West Bengal. He is the incumbent Member of Parliament representing the Medinipur constituency in Lok Sabha and also currently serving as the 9th president of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[2] He is often referred as Naru Da.[3]
Dilip Ghosh | |
---|---|
9th President of Bharatiya Janata Party West Bengal | |
Assumed office 2015 | |
Preceded by | Rahul Sinha |
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
Assumed office 23 May 2019 | |
Preceded by | Sandhya Roy |
Constituency | Medinipur |
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |
In office 19 May 2016 – 23 May 2019 | |
Preceded by | Gyan Singh Sohanpal |
Succeeded by | Pradip Sarkar |
Constituency | Kharagpur Sadar |
Personal details | |
Born | Kuliana, West Bengal, India[1] | 1 August 1964
Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
Other political affiliations | Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh |
Residence | North Avenue-Duplex, New Delhi, India |
Signature | |
Website |
Ghosh comes from the economically backward areas of Jungle Mahals[4] and belongs to the Bengali Sadgop caste, a backward caste among Bengali Hindus.[5][6]
Early life
Ghosh was born into a Bengali Sadgop family at Kuliana village near Gopiballavpur of Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal. He was the second of the four sons of Bholanath Ghosh and Puspalata Ghosh.
After completing his secondary schooling, Ghosh claims to have pursued diploma in engineering from a polytechnic college in Jhargram over an affidavit filed with the Election Commission of India; however the lone polytechnic institute in the region – Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Polytechnic stated that Ghosh did not pass the diploma from the college between 1975 and 1990.[7][8][9]
In 1984 at the age of 20, he formally joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist organisation as a volunteer.[10][3]
Political career
Early Political Career
Ghosh started his political journey as a “Pracharak” of RSS in 1984.He was the in-charge of RSS in Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 1999 to 2007, and worked as an assistant to former RSS chief K. S. Sudarshan. In 2014, Ghosh was loaned into BJP[11] and was appointed as the General Secretary of the West Bengal unit. In 2015, Ghosh was appointed as West Bengal State President of the BJP.[12]
Ghosh started his electoral debut in 2016 contesting the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Kharagpur Sadar,He won in the Kharagpur Sadar constituency of Paschim Medinipur district by defeating his nearest rival Gyan Singh Sohanpal, an Indian National Congress candidate. Gyan Singh Sohanpal of Congress had won the Kharagpur Sadar assembly seat seven times in a row from 1982 to 2011.[13]
In September 2016, Ghosh went on a BJP-sponsored seven-day trip to USA, to highlight "oppression" of the Hindus in West Bengal and infiltration of Muslims from Bangladesh; other speakers in the programme were Subramanian Swamy and Hukum Singh.[14]
Ghosh won the Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha General Elections by a margin of 88,952 votes and a vote share of 48.62% by defeating Trinamool Congress candidate Manas Bhunia.[15] In August 2019, Ghosh accompanied Ramnath Kovind to an official seven-day visit to the African countries of Benin, The Gambia and Guinea as a part of the official Indian delegation, which also consisted of Pratap Chandra Sarangi, the Minister of State in the Government of India for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.[16]
He launched a political campaign Chai Pe Charcha where he spoke to people while sipping tea. He was attacked on one such campaign on August 30, 2019 in Kolkata's Lake Town area allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers.[17] In January 2020 Dilip Ghosh was re-appointed as West Bengal BJP president.[18]
Positions Held
Elected Offices
Year | Description | |
---|---|---|
May, 2019-incumbent | Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha (1st term) - Medinipur | |
24 July 2019 | Member, Committee on Estimates | |
13 September 2019 | Member, Standing Committee on Home Affairs | |
9 October 2019 | Member, Committee of Privileges | |
Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship | ||
2016-2019 | Member, West Bengal Legislative Assembly (1st term) - Kharagpur | |
2018-2019 |
| |
Political Offices
Year | Description | Organization |
---|---|---|
2020 - incumbent | President, West Bengal | BJP |
2014 - 2020 | ||
2014-2015 | General Secretary, West Bengal | |
1999-2007 | In-Charge,Andaman and Nicobar Islands | RSS |
Controversies
- In May 2016, he raised a controversy when he said girl students of Jadavpur University "below standard and shameless who are always in search of opportunity to be in the company of male students".[19][20][21]
- In August 2019, he declared that the Trinamul Congress workers’ families would be wiped out if he would start killing them. Triggering controversy, he even ordered his party workers rather to take revenge against TMC and even the police through violence.[22][23][24]
- In September 2019, terming the Left and ultra-Left students of Jadavpur University “anti-nationals" and "terrorists", he insinuated that his party would conduct a “Balakot-like surgical strike” on the JU campus to “drive out the communists”.[25][26][27][28] He also courted controversy when he attacked "few intellectuals" for having beef on roads and asked them to consume 'dog meat' at their homes.[29][30]
- In December 2019, he was embroiled in a controversy when he said his party allows people to create trouble because the media looks for news.[31][32] He drew criticism when he turned away an ambulance which tried to make way through a rally he was addressing in Nadia.[33][34][35] While the ambulance was actually carrying a patient.[36][37] He claimed that " TMC are doing it purposely. It is their tactic to disrupt the rally".
- In January 2020, he again raised controversy by remarking that West Bengal has turned into hub of anti-nationals.[38][39] He also courted controversy when he said anti CAA intellectuals are 'devils' and 'parasites' who don't know about their parents.[40][41][42][43]
- On January 28, 2020, he raised another controversy when he questioned why nobody was dying at the Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act when several people had lost their lives waiting to withdraw money from banks during the demonetisation initiative over three years ago. "What surprises me is that people were dying after standing in line for two to three hours. But now women and children are sitting in temperatures as low as 4-5 degrees Celsius but nobody is dying! What nectar did they have? I am astonished! What is their incentive (for staying alive)?" he said at an event organised by the Kolkata Press Club.[44][45][46][47]
- On January 30, he courted yet another controversy with his remark stating that, "Unless you visit jail, you cannot be a political leader", which is true in India.[48][49] His comments drew widespread criticism from opposition parties when a lone woman carrying anti CAA poster was heckled by his partyman. Later while speaking to newsmen, Ghosh justified the heckling of the woman saying "Our men did the right thing. She should thank her stars that she was only heckled and nothing else was done to her".[50][51][52]
- On February 16, he raked up yet another controversy with his remark on anti CAA protesters. He said, "some uneducated, unaware, poor people have been lured with money and are being fed Biryani with foreign funds to continue with the protests.”[53][54]
- On May 29, his remarked on migrants sparked fierce backlash from oppositions. He said, the death of migrants returning home on Shramik Special trains are "small and isolated" incidents, and the Indian Railways cannot be blamed for it.[55]
- In August 7, he was embroiled in a controversy when he said, "mandir culture is needed more than the hospital culture".[56]
References
- "Dilip Ghosh (ভারতীয় জনতা পার্টি (BJP))". myneta.info. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- "Dilip Ghosh appointed West Bengal BJP chief". The Hindu. PTI. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
—"Dilip Ghosh WB BJP president". Retrieved 11 December 2015.
—Banerjie, Monideepa; Sanyal, Anindita (16 January 2020). "Dilip Ghosh Re-Named Bengal BJP Chief Amid Row over "Like Dogs" Remark". NDTV.
—"Dilip Ghosh re-elected West Bengal BJP chief". The Hindu. 16 January 2020. - Sujit Nath (21 January 2020). "Poll Star: Firebrand Dilip Ghosh Has Ignited Hopes in Bengal BJP of 2021 Triumph". News18.com. News18.com. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
The 55-year-old state unit chief, Dilip Ghosh, is now a key component of the party, largely due to his personality and oratorical skills, even if controversial at times.
- Aniket Ghosh (23 July 2020). "Political Collapse Of Bengal's Upper Caste 'Bhadralok' Hegemony And BJP's Prize". outlookindia.com. Kolkata: Outlook magazine. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
The party’s, state president Dilip Ghosh (a surname commonly used by members of both the Sadgope and the upper caste Kayastha community) hails from the western districts in the Jangalmahal region (dominated by OBC and ST voters) and is himself an OBC from the Sadgope caste. Such has been his mass appeal in these regions, and consequent rise in the party, that he has sidelined much of the previous upper caste Bhadralok leadership of the party.
- Deep Halder (28 July 2020). "Why BJP does not need Sourav Ganguly for Bengal 2021". dailyo.in. DailyO. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
It doesn’t help that Ghosh is a Sadgop by caste, an OBC, and Bengal has never had a lower caste chief minister — right from the Kayastha Prafulla Chandra Ghosh in 1947 to the Brahmin Mamata Banerjee today.
- Soumya Das (3 March 2020). "Amit Shah's 'son of soil' remark creates speculation on CM candidate within West Bengal BJP". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
BJP sources revealed that a section of state leaders close to Bengal party president Dilip Ghosh are trying to project him as the Chief Ministerial candidate, claiming that he is a “grassroots level leader” who has risen through party ranks from a humble background.
- "RTI reply contradicts BJP Bengal president's education qualification claims". Hindustan Times. 8 April 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
—Ali, Arshad (8 April 2017). "RTI reveals BJP Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh gave incorrect info about education in poll affidavit". DNA India. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
—"Fake Educational Credentials: Ex-BJP leader moves HC against Dilip Ghosh". The Indian Express. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2020. - "RTI reply contradicts BJP Bengal president's education qualification claims". Hindustan Times. 8 April 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- Ali, Arshad (8 April 2017). "RTI reveals BJP Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh gave incorrect info about education in poll affidavit". DNA India. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- "Dilip Ghosh". Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- Andersen, Walter; Damle, Shridhar (17 August 2018). The RSS: A View to the Inside. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. p. 149. ISBN 978-93-5305-159-4.
- "BJP declares Dilip Ghosh as new WB state president". Anandabazar Patrika. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- "KHARAGPUR SADAR Election Result 2016, Winner, KHARAGPUR SADAR MLA, West Bengal". NDTV.com. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
- "BJP state chief to highlight plight of Bengal Hindus in the US". Hindustan Times. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
- "General Election 2019 - Election Commission of India". results.eci.gov.in. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- "President Ram Nath Kovind departs for official seven-day visit to Africa; MoS Pratap Chandra Sarangi, MP Dilip Ghosh accompany". Firstpost. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- —"Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh attacked by mob in Kolkata's Lake Town". Kolkata: India Today. 30 August 2019.
Dilip Ghosh was also scheduled to attend a 'Chai Pe Charcha' meet in Lake Town. He was suddenly surrounded by a mob who allegedly attacked him. The BJP has claimed the men belonged to the TMC.
—"On CAA, Mamata Banerjee, Dilip Ghosh take cues from PM Modi's chai pe charcha". Kolkata: Hindustan Times. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
—"BJP State President Dilip Ghosh attends the 'Chai Pe Charcha' campaign in Malda". Malda: Siliguri Times. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020. - "Dilip Ghosh re-elected as West Bengal BJP president". Economics Times. 16 January 2020.
- "Jadavpur University girl students 'shameless', 'below standard': BJP leader Dilip Ghosh - Times of India".
- "Dilip Ghosh remark on JU girls, Congress supporters demand apology". 16 May 2016.
- "Jadavpur University women students are 'shameless': BJP's Dilip Ghosh". 16 May 2016.
- "Dilip Ghosh threatens to kill TMC workers' kin". 28 August 2019.
- "Bash up TMC workers, cops: BJP Bengal chief to party workers".
- "Bengal BJP chief threatens TMC with 'mass murder'".
- "Wait for surgical strike on Jadavpur University: BJP".
- "Jadavpur University, a hub of anti-nationals, will be destroyed in a Balakot-like surgical strike: BJP's Dilip Ghosh". The Hindu. 20 September 2019.
- "West Bengal BJP chief says surgical strike in JU will destroy groups that assaulted Babul Supriyo".
- "'JU a Hub of Anti-national Activities, Our Cadres Will Conduct Surgical Strike to Destroy Them': Dilip Ghosh". 20 September 2019.
- "Foreign cows are 'aunties', Indian cows have gold in their milk: BJP's Dilip Ghosh".
- "'Few intellectuals eat beef on roads but...': BJP's Dilip Ghosh bizarre remark".
- "'We allow people to create trouble': Bengal BJP leader sets up new controversy". 27 December 2019.
- "'If TMC Creates Trouble, We Will Also Follow Suit': BJP's Dilip Ghosh Courts New Controversy".
- "Dilip Ghosh turns away ambulance during rally in West Bengal". Business Standard India. 8 January 2020.
- "Dilip Ghosh turns away ambulance during rally in West Bengal".
- "'Find Another Route': Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh Turns Away Ambulance as Rally Blocks Road | Watch".
- "BJP MP Dilip Ghosh Under Fire for Turning Ambulance Away During Rally in Bengal". 8 January 2020.
- "Defiant BJP Bengal chief blocks ambulance during rally, later says 'don't have faltu time' to discuss issue » Northeast Today". 8 January 2020.
- "Bengal turned into hub of anti-nationals under TMC regime: Dilip Ghosh - Times of India".
- "West Bengal turned into hub of anti-nationals under TMC regime: Dilip Ghosh".
- "Now, Dilip Ghosh Calls Anti-CAA Intellectuals 'Parasites Who Don't Know About Their Parents'".
- "Parentage jibe from Dilip".
- "Intellectuals at Citizenship Law Protests "Parasites": Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh".
- "'Intellectuals opposing CAA are devils, parasites,' says Dilip Ghosh, day after being re-elected as West Bengal BJP chief".
- "Why Has No Protester at Shaheen Bagh Fallen Ill or Died Until Now, Asks BJP MP Dilip Ghosh".
- ""If 100 Died in Notes Ban Queues, Why Not Shaheen Bagh?": Shocker by BJP's Dilip Ghosh".
- "Why no Shaheen Bagh protester falling ill, wonders Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh". 28 January 2020.
- "Why no Shaheen Bagh protester falling ill despite chilly winter: Dilip Ghosh".
- "Unless You Visit Jail, You Cannot be a Leader: Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh Tells Partymen".
- ""Can't be a Leader Unless You Go to Jail": Dilip Ghosh to BJP Workers".
- "should-thank-her-stars-nothing-else-done-dilip-ghosh-to-anti-caa-protester-heckled-by-bjp-cadres-".
- "State BJP president Dilip Ghosh attacks a lady in Patuli". 30 January 2020.
- "Dilip Ghosh: BJP-র মিছিলে একলা তরুণীর CAA-প্রতিবাদ, 'ও কি শহিদ হতে চায়?' ফের বোমা দিলীপের - controversial comment of west bengal BJP president dilip ghosh about a lady who protested against caa-NPR during BJP's pro-caa abhinandan rally | Eisamay".
- "Biryani, foreign funds driving the uneducated to CAA rallies: Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh".
- "Protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, Kolkata's Park Circus 'uneducated' and 'poor', doing it for money, says Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh".
- "Dilip Ghosh calls death of migrants on trains small and isolated incidents".
- "Need for Mandir culture more than hospital culture: Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh".