Will AAP Leader Ashok Mittal's Defection Hurt BJP's Anti-Corruption Plank In Bengal?

Following the defection of the seven AAP MPs to BJP led by Raghav Chadha, numerous leaders across the opposition camp have claimed it to be an unsurprising move. However, the newly appointed deputy leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, Ashok Mittal’s move to the saffron camp, has raised questions on the BJP’s anti-corruption push, especially in the wake of multiple campaigns in poll-bound Bengal.

Educationist Mittal’s unprecedented move to the BJP comes amidst the party’s numerous campaigns across Bengal, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have advertised their anti-corruption stand as the primary poll agenda this season.

Exactly ten days before Mittal's move, the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches on the premises of Mittal, the founder of Lovely Professional University, in Haryana and Punjab, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act in a suspected money-laundering probe. Numerous properties associated with the Lovely Group across Jalandhar and Phagwara were subject to the searches. Mittal’s switch comes at the crossroads of rising prominence in the Rajya Sabha, following his appointment as deputy leader of the party replacing Chadha and the ED raids.

Does this offset the BJPs’ grand stand against corruption in Bengal? Numerous critics and analysts have attributed the shift to the probe, reigniting conversations surrounding ‘BJP’s washing machine politics.’

The BJP washing machine is back, along with the Modi washing powder, said senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

Pointing at the timing of Mittal’s switch, exactly ten days after ED raids, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “From Himanta Biswa Sarma to now Ashok Mittal, the laundry list of ED-raided and BJP-laundered politicians is getting longer by the day.” NCP(SP)’s Anish Gawande posted on X, “Cannot say it’s surprising that Raghav Chadha has decided to join the BJP. What’s more unfortunate, however, is that 6 other Rajya Sabha MPs have joined him. Seems like ICE - Income Tax, CBI, ED - has served its purpose. Welcome to #NewIndia,”

In Bengal, Modi and Shah continue to use corruption as the primary spade against the incumbent TMC government, vowing to end corruption and ‘gundaraaj’ in the state. Following the first phase of polling on April 23, Shah took to X to post a video of the setting sun saying, the “sun of the TMC’s corruption and hooliganism has set.” The BJP also released a symbolic 15-year chargesheet titled 'Abhiyognama' last month, compiling alleged instances of corruption and misgovernance during the 15-year tenure of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly alleged that BJP’s use of central agencies has been targeted and designed to gain leeway in the state. In one of the most high-profile instances this year, the ED raided political consultancy firm I-PAC’s premises and recently arrested one of its founders, forcing it to halt operations in the state. In another episode, days after being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department conducted searches at Trinamool Congress candidate from Rashbehari, Debasish Kumar’s places, over alleged income, and tax discrepancies. Numerous ED raids are also presently underway in the poll-bound state in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged Public Distribution System Scam. In an atmosphere of agenda-directed campaign strategy, Mittal, who has been subject to similar corruption probes recently, walking into the BJP camp could be a major boomerang to its anti-corruption advertisement in Bengal.

Speaking of Mittal’s switch and BJP’s harbouring of tainted leaders, Md.Salim, state secretary of the CPI(M), said, “BJP is the biggest player of dirty politics in the country. From the northeastern hills to the western coast, no place has remained untouched by their washing machine politics. We have the examples of Himanta Biswa Sarma, Suvendu Adhikari, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. We’ll soon see Abhishek Banerjee joining the list."

Salim further claimed that using agencies to force corrupt leaders to join BJP is their brand of politics. "This is why, under the Modi regime, there have been no cases against government officials deputed in agencies on charges of disproportionate assets. We will highlight Mittal’s case in our electoral campaign to show what the BJP really means by clean politics.” As the Modi-Shah duo intensify campaigns in Bengal across the constituencies which goes to polls in the second phase on April 29, for many, Mittal's induction into the saffron fold goes against the momentum of the party's anti-corruption poll push in Bengal.