The stakes are high for the Bhabanipur constituency and BJP is showing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) that they are not afraid to be in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s bastion.
“Suvendu da wanted to contest from Nandigram. I told him, not just Nandigram. You have to enter Mamata Banerjee’s home and defeat her there,” said Amit Shah during the roadshow at Hazra crossing before accompanying Adhikari to file his nomination papers.
Outside the lane of CM Banerjee's house were a sea of TMC flags and the BJP’s saffron flags, nearly leading to a scuffle between supporters of both parties. The police stepped in to prevent the situation from going out of control.
For TMC supporters, the anger was palpable, questioning the audacity of saffron party supporters entering their bastion. The fact that the Union Home Minister was part of the rally also did not deter TMC supporters from shouting “Joy Bangla” slogans and BJP supporters responding with “Jai Shree Ram” slogans.
Adhikari’s Bhabanipur campaign on Wednesday too was a show of seeking acceptance in Didi’s turf.
Seen as the outsider, the Leader of Opposition is leaving no stone unturned to ensure he is accepted, at least by a section of the Hindi-speaking public from the Bhabanipur constituency.
At the Thursday rally, which might have seen saffron party supporters from outside the constituency, the messaging was of prime most importance.
“Change will happen in West Bengal. But should there be a change in Bhabanipur or not?” questioned Shah.
Adhikari won against Banerjee in 2021 in Nandigram by 1,956 votes, prompting her to contest and win from Bhabanipur in a by-election to retain her seat.
The saffron party is hoping they can recreate the same magic in the urban constituency. However, the scenes near the CM's Kalighat residence and outside the Survey Building in Alipore—where Adhikari had filed his nomination—shows that the BJP has a tough task ahead.
The TMC was confident that Shah’s presence would not unsettle the ruling party.
“You say you will stay for 15 days during voting (elections) or even one month. But you will not be able to sit on for even one day after election results,” declared TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.
"In 2021, he (Shah) had said 200 seats, they stopped at 77. Now he himself has gone down to 170 seats—he definitely has understood his defeat,” Ghosh added.
Shad had mentioned during the Bhabanipur roadshow that the BJP would bag 170 seats to form the new government in West Bengal and winning Bhabanipur alone would speed up the political dynamics for the saffron party in the state.
While the battle of words between leaders and sloganeering by supporters from both sides continue, the reality cannot be forgotten—that breaking the victory streak of the TMC in Bhabanipur in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections since 2011 is a tough contest, which the BJP knows is not just about fighting the perception game, but a battle at the ballot box too.
For the numbers game, the saffron party is banking on the Special Intensive Revison (SIR) and more than 40,000 deletions from the final list in Bhabanipur alone. It now remains to be seen how successful the BJP’s latest attempts will be in the current Assembly elections.