“Saurav has been under political pressure”: why did CPI-M leader Ashok Bhattacharya say so?

Ashok Bhattacharya, former Left Front government minister and senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), visited Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Saurav Ganguly at Kolkata’s Woodlands Hospital on Sunday evening, where the former Indian cricket team skipper is undergoing treatment.

After coming out of the hospital, Bhattacharya had said on Sunday that Ganguly was “under pressure” and he was being pressurised “politically”, something that is “uncalled for”. On Saturday, Ganguly was admitted to the hospital and underwent angioplasty. He was diagnosed with three blocked coronary arteries after which one stent was inserted to remove the blockage.

“For a person of Saurav Ganguly’s stature, this is uncalled for. We do not want Saurav to be pressured politically,” Bhattacharya said. But this has led to speculations as to what led the senior politician – known to be close to Saurav Ganguly for decades – make such a statement. Only a few days back, Bhattachaya had called on Saurav at his Behala home and had posted photographs with a note that he had advised Saurav to stay away from politics.

All this has led to speculations on why Bhattacharya had made such statements on Ganguly being under “political pressure”.

“Saurav is associated with sports and we hope he will remain that way. I have told him repeatedly that he should stick to sports, and I cannot say that he disagrees with me,” Bhattacharya said. “Some people are hoping to use him politically. This is totally uncalled for.” Saurav Ganguly has been close to Ashok Bhattacharya for decades. In fact, they had a long chat over phone on Friday evening, and Bhattacharya said he was upset on learning that a young and fit person like Saurav could suddenly fall ill.

But what led to this statement by Ashok Bhattachaya? There have been speculations that Ganguly may be projected as the chief minister candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal for the coming Assembly polls, scheduled less than six months from now. However, the speculations have been going on for long, though Ganguly has, in his close circles, has made it clear that he is not interested in joining politics.

On December 27, 2020, Saurav Ganguly had called on Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar – whom the Trinamool Congress has accused of “crossing the line” and whose removal the party has sought from the President of India. Ganguly also shared the dais with Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the unveiling of the statue of Arun Jaitley in New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium the following day, on December 28. Recently, Saurav has also returned a plot he had taken from the Bengal government earlier for setting up an academy. All these developments led to further speculations that Dada may after all be pitched against Didi in Bengal.

Was Saurav under pressure due to this? More importantly, did Ashok Bhattacharya mean this sort of pressure when he mentioned the “political pressure on Saurav” in his statement?