Will fight rise of 'divisive, communal forces' in Bengal: Congress

Kolkata, May 28 (IANS) Warning of the rise of "divisive and communal forces" in West Bengal, Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya on Tuesday said his party will keep fighting against these in the state as well as in the country.

The Rajya Sabha member said that while Congress might have lost the 2019 elections to BJP, it was not a defeat of the party's ideology.

"Communalism was never a part of Bengal's politics. But it has now entered in a big way. It is extremely unfortunate for us. We have to stop the rise of divisive and communal forces at any cost," Bhattacharya said at the state Congress headquarters here.

"We believe that such polarisation will not work in the land of Bengal. We want to tell those who are trying to divide people along communal lines that Congress will fight against the divisive politics till the end, even if no one else does," he added.

The Congress only managed to hold on to two Lok Sabha seats in Bengal in 2019, down from four five years ago while its vote share (5.61 percent) also witnessed a sharp decline.

Bhattacharya said the state unit of the party will soon hold a working committee meeting to analyse the shortcomings and challenges, which resulted into this mandate.

Referring to party President Rahul Gandhi's offer to resign which has been declined by the Congress Working Committee, he said the Bengal unit of the party also believes that Gandhi's "leadership and guidance" will help Congress in the challenging times.

He also thanked the Left Front which did not field candidate in the two seats-- Baharampur and Malda South, where Congress emerged victorious in Bengal, even after the seat adjustment talks between the two parties collapsed ahead of the polls.