By Tirthankar Mitra
Riven with factionalism made worse by a rank and file lowering in morale, West Bengal unit of BJP is not a political outfit which has some reasons to fulfil its promise to emerge as the ruling dispensation of the state post 2026 Assembly elections. Nowhere matching its once grandiose description of the “Grand Old Party”, the state Congress is just another political outfit which also ran.
The commonality between the two boils down to the fact that they are unlikely to offer a semblance of political resistance to the TMC government in 2026 Assembly polls. The charisma of their leadership falls far short of the same of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee even as they vainly promise to raise the upper limit of social welfare schemes like Lakshmir Bhander and Kanyasree once they emerge victorious in the coming polls without much hope of winning the elections.
Enjoying the status of the principal Opposition party in the state Assembly, the BJP can trace it’s rise in the state from the late ’90s when it was a poll partner of a fledgling Trinamool Congress. Promising self rule to the Gurkhas, the saffron camp had its most winnable constituency in Darjeeling parliamentary constituency.
Apart from the hills, the BJP had Dum Dum and Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituencies in its kitty during this time span. Apart from the support from Trinamool, “covert blessings” of CPI(M) strongman late Subhas Chakraborty ensured that Dum Dum became almost a pocket borough of BJP. A slump came thereafter in the electoral fortune of the saffron camp.
Mukul Roy, the second in command in TMC after Mamata Banerjee switching his loyalty to BJP led to an upsurge in number of saffron camp representatives from West Bengal in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Together with Roy’s knowledge about the weak spots of TMC, the organisational network woven by state party chief, Dilip Ghosh saw BJP winning 18 Lok Sabha seats.
Just as the BJP seemed almost poised to replace Trinamool in 2021 Assembly elections, the saffron camp bit the dust. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah making regular trips to campaign in West Bengal, the chinks in BJP’s organisation became discernible.
The removal of Dilip Ghosh from the state chief’s post opened a floodgate of intra-party feud. Sukanta Majumdar, an academic who replaced Ghosh could not rein in the feuding factions. Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Subhendu Adhikari who had come over from Trinamool had engineered a spate of defections. But such is the state of West Bengal unit’s organisational adhesion that many of the turn coats returned to TMC in ashes and sackcloth.
Fissures turned into cracks as several BJP MLAs switched loyalty to the Trinamool Congress. Inner party squabble is eating into the state BJP as the differences between Adhikari “a projected leader” and Majumdar, a RSS protege show no indication of going away.
Post 2021 Assembly elections, saffron camp organisation continued to go downhill as the party lost six seats in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Majumdar turned out neither to be a “vote catcher” nor an organisation builder.
The state of affairs in state BJP has boiled down to a poor and disorganised front as it takes on TMC in 2026 Assembly elections. A turn around in fortunes of the saffron camp seems unlikely and the ruling dispensation has little to worry.
Congress, the principal Opposition party in West Bengal since 1977 has been unseated from its perch ever since the emergence of Trinamool Congress. The admission coming from none other former state party chief, Pradip Bhattacharya recently has ruffled a lot of feathers.
But Mamata Banerjee giving it her nod has silenced those Congress leaders disputing this contention. With the Left Congress poll combine seen to be running out of steam in successive elections, the central leadership of Congress is mulling the idea of a poll partnership with TMC
With this end in view, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been replaced by Subhankar Sarkar. While the previous state Congress chief lost no occasion to criticize Banerjee, his successor is towing an exactly opposite direction. Sarkar is aware there are hardly any activists at the grass root level. The Congress needs workers to contest elections. This force, so far had been supplied by the Left. Now it seeks the same from the Trinamool ranks.
Truth to tell, most of Congress rank and file have deserted to the Trinamool. If Congress seeks to have its representatives in the Assembly post elections, it has almost no alternative but to play a second fiddle to the TMC
Sarkar’s induction as the state chief has kickstarted the process of extending an olive branch to Trinamool. It is upto the new state Congress chief to sweet talk TMC leadership read Mamata Banerjee to make some of her partymen campaign for Congress in 2026 elections as Sarkar is aware that he is a state party chief sans almost any organisation. (IPA Service)