Four decades since the 1960s when Left students’ unions held sway in Bengal while playing a significant role in the state’s politics, one humid afternoon in November 2000, thousands of RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members hit the streets of Kolkata, taking residents by surprise.
Reporters at the time who primarily focused on the Left, Congress and the rising Trinamool Congress had to cut short their other assignments and rush to Bankim Chatterjee Street opposite Sanskrit College at College Square – popularly known as a “Boi Para” (famous for bookstores) – to decode the huge gathering of right-wing student leaders and supporters raising slogans of “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” on November 10, 2000.
Once the ABVP workers were chased away by the police for blocking the busy Kolkata streets, a few journalists slipped into the Paramount juice bar to have some Daab Sharbat (special coconut drink) to get relief from the mugginess.
Established in 1918 by Nihar Ranjan Majumdar, a freedom fighter, Paramount is not just famous for quenching Kolkata’s thirst but also its ‘adda’ (conversation) and clientele like Rabindranath Tagore, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Satyajit Ray, to name a few.
While the journalists were downing the Daab Sharbat, two young men sitting in a corner were whispering how ABVP’s state secretary Amitava Chakravorty managed to steal the show by organising the rally.
Not so popular in Bengal’s students’ politics at the time and with no elected BJP representative from Bengal till 1998 (when Tapan Sikdar became the first BJP MP from Bengal), Amitava Chakravorty, during a brief police detention after the protest rally, had said, “Today’s rally will be a force to remember in Bengal in the coming years.”
Since then almost ten years have passed. The journey of Amitava Chakravorty from ABVP to RSS pracharak (proponent) and his elevation as BJP’s general secretary (organisation) in West Bengal by replacing Subrata Chattopadhyay has been eventful, and his words 10 years ago have come true.
His journey was full of challenges and his rise happened due to his excellent organisational skills.
On October 28, in a crucial organisational change in West Bengal ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, Chattopadhyay was removed and his deputy, Chakravorty, was elevated to the post by BJP national president JP Nadda.
Before his elevation, Amitava Chakravorty was the joint general secretary (organisation) for the past few years.
Hours after getting his new responsibility, Chakravorty tweeted, “I would like to thank Shri @JPNadda Ji for appointing me as the General Secretary (Organisation) of @BJP4Bengal. I am truly blessed & honoured for this opportunity. With your and sh. @blsanthosh ji’s blessings, I shall work tirelessly.”
Commenting on the development, Chattopadhyay tweeted, “I’m thankful to Higher Leadership for keeping faith in me as a soldier of the party for 7 long years. I congratulate the newly appointed GS (Org) & wish him all the best.”
The move by the central leadership came as a surprise for everyone in the state leadership because Subrata Chattopadhyay was known to be very close to state party president Dilip Ghosh.
Amitava Chakravorty was born on July 21, 1972 and studied from Balurghat College in South Dinajpur. His ancestral house is in Harirampur in the same South Dinajpur district.
He was a powerful student leader of North Bengal University in the 1990s and was later appointed state secretary of ABVP, West Bengal and shifted to Kolkata.
During his ABVP days, he came in contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and left home to become a pracharak’. Later he became the state organisation secretary of ABVP in Bengal, and after a few years he was promoted to eastern zonal organisation secretary and then as the national secretary of the Parishad.
In 2016, Amitava Chakravorty joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and former national president Amit Shah appointed him as the state joint general secretary of Odisha.
In 2019, Nadda appointed him as the state joint general secretary of the BJP in West Bengal and now he’s been elevated to general secretary (organisation).
It was learnt that the central leadership was very happy with his “silent work” to strengthen the party on the ground in Bengal, which is going to polls in April-May next year.
Over the years, Amitava Chakravorty successfully managed to spread various central schemes and their plans for “Sonar Bangla” and he is known as an excellent troubleshooter in the party.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “There is nothing to say because these are the party’s decisions.”
In recent months, the BJP central leadership has made various organisational changes by elevating Mukul Roy to vice- president from the post of national executive member and elevating Anupam Hazra by making him party general secretary as a replacement for Rahul Sinha.
The list of newly appointed office-bearers approved by Nadda shows the party’s eagerness to win the Bengal elections even at the cost of keeping turncoats at the forefront.
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