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Updated: Jul 24, 2019 20:21 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Kolkata says it has gained about 250 members from among the students of Vidyasagar College that was at the Centre of controversy ahead of the seventh and final phase of elections in West Bengal following the demolition of a bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

The desecration of the bust of the social reformer and educator had snowballed into a big political issue in the state.

“About 250 students and some college staff members have become members of our party since the launch of the membership drive. Some of them became members using Narendra Modi App, while others took up membership during our campaign in front of the Vidyasagar College on Tuesday,” said Pankaj Singhania, vice-president of BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s Uttar Kolkata district unit.

All wings of the BJP are carrying out a membership drive, with the intention of enlisting one crore members from the state.

On Tuesday, a campaign was conducted in front of several colleges, including Vidyasagar College in College Street area, in north Kolkata.

In mid May, the demolition of Vidyasagar’s statue triggered a major controversy. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the spot that very night, blamed BJP supporters participating in party chief Amit Shah’s road show for the incident. She also promised to install a statue at the college compound.

Shah, in turn, pinned the blame on Trinamool Congress’ student wing members while Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to install a statue of the 19thcentury Bengal renaissance icon on the college campus.

On June 11, Banerjee unveiled the new statue of Vidyasagar.

This membership drive came after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), BJP’s sister concern, opened its unit in the college.

“The Vidyasagar College unit comprising 30 members was formed barely a few days after the statue was demolished. Students who were shocked to see how the TMC student wing members orchestrated the chaos and demolished Vidyasagar’s bust, in a conspiracy hatched to malign, joined us,” said Mrinmay Das, ABVP’s Kolkata metropolitan unit secretary.

Sanu Makal, a third-year student and president of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP)’s Vidyasagar College unit, rubbished the BJP’s claims.

“Some people crossing by the college at the time of the party’s membership drive enrolled with the BJP. None was a college student. The BJP is spreading false information to confuse the students and the people. All students of the college were shocked and ashamed of the BJP’s vandalism at the college,” Makal said.