West Bengal polls: To breach TMC’s Kolkata bastion, how BJP made a narrative shift
While TMC has always dominated Kolkata’s 14 seats, BJP gained some ground in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, even though it has never won any seats in the city
Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari (right) campaigns for BJP candidate from Kolkata port, Rakesh Singh, on Saturday. (PTI) As the mercury rises in West Bengal, so does the political temperature. With voting in the second phase of the Assembly elections scheduled for April 29, the spotlight has shifted to the heart of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s stronghold region: Kolkata and its surrounding urban belts.
In a strategic departure from its rural narrative, centred on “infiltrators” and “identity”, the principal Opposition BJP has localised its city campaign in Kolkata, focusing squarely on urban infrastructure-related issues in the capital city.
The BJP’s official social media handles have been relentless in highlighting the plight of public transport. A recent BJP post stated: “Not just weather-beaten roads, buses in Kolkata are in a state of disrepair. The time has come for Kolkata’s public road transport system to enter the 21st century. On May 4, buses will improve, roads will improve, and so will all our lives.”
The counting of votes will take place on May 4.
Another BJP social media post alleged: “Once a pioneer in urban mobility, being home to India’s first metro system, the city now struggles with congestion and aging infrastructure. Trinamool Congress has sacrificed the whole transport system of Kolkata to syndicates and mafias.”
The Calcutta Tram Users Association (CTUA), an advocacy group that has campaigned for sustainable transport in the city, said in a statement: “We urge the West Bengal BJP to take a bold step: restore and modernise the Calcutta Tramways Company network with dedicated corridors, better frequency, and last-mile connectivity. Trams are not the past; they are the future of sustainable cities.”
In its campaign, the BJP has labelled Kolkata the “most congested city in India”, citing average traffic speeds of 17.4 kmph. It has sought to frame the TMC’s tenure as an “era of stagnation”. “Public buses are centuries old. Roads are in poor condition with no major road planning. Strengthening connectivity and modernisation are essential, and only a double-engine government can do this,” the party claimed.
Traditionally, the Greater Kolkata region has been an impenetrable fort of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC. The BJP has never won any seats in Kolkata. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP failed to win any of the 14 seats across the Kolkata North and South electoral districts, as well as in the districts of Howrah and South 24 Parganas.
However, recent poll data suggests the “TMC tide” may face countercurrents in this region in this election.
The assessment of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections indicates a significant breach in the TMC’s urban bastions. The BJP secured leads in 11 Assembly segments in Nadia district and 8 in North 24 Parganas district. It also gained some traction in the metropolis, leading in the Jorasanko and Shyampukur Assembly segments in Kolkata North.
Flipping the script
While Kolkata South, Howrah, and South 24 Parganas remained loyal to the TMC in 2024, the BJP is betting on its new narrative to flip the script in 2026.
One of the most watched contests is in the Kolkata Port seat, where Rakesh Singh, the BJP candidate who was seen canvassing holding fish on Bengali New Year’s day, is taking on TMC heavyweight and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim.
In the Kashipur-Belgachhia seat, BJP candidate Ritesh Tiwari has led the charge against the incumbent party’s record of the “city’s beautification”. “They have done nothing in the name of beautification or development. If you walk for 500 metres, you will not find one stretch without potholes… All government buses have vanished. In the name of development, the city only got blue and white paint. What happened in R G Kar crossed all limits,” Tiwari told The Indian Express, referring to the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital in August 2024.
The TMC has, however, remained unfazed, dismissing the BJP’s infrastructure pitch as a “desperate, second-phase strategy”.
TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty mocked the shift in the Opposition party’s tone. “In the first phase, they played upon ‘infiltrators’, but they couldn’t show one Rohingya during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. It proves their claim is baseless. Now, because it is the second phase in Kolkata, they are talking about development. It is hilarious; everyone remembers how Yogi Adityanath used a picture of our Maa Flyover to show development in Uttar Pradesh,” told The Indian Express.
Chakraborty instead attacked the BJP-led Centre for withholding funds from Bengal. “They should be talking about roti, kapra, and makan, but they can’t because they have deprived Bengal of all three by stopping funds. Let me tell you clearly: Our party works for people round the year. It doesn’t matter how many narratives they change. Bengal will only vote for Bangla and development done by our party,” he said.
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