Union home minister Amit Shah, who will address BJP workers at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday, is set to lay out the party's Bengal Assembly poll strategy after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday listed the "panch sankat (five crises)" ailing the state ruled by arch-rival Mamata Banerjee.
A source in the BJP said Shah was expected to outline the path forward and present a road map for the party’s rank and file.
During his public meeting in Alipurduar, Modi highlighted "five crises" in Bengal under Mamata's regime — appeasement politics and violence against Hindus, unemployment, lack of women's security and rising atrocities, severe corruption in the government system and the snatching of rights from the poor.
"Modiji’s 'panch sankat', which he outlined during his north Bengal visit, is central to our strategy in the run-up to the Assembly elections. It has been endorsed by the party's national leadership in charge of Bengal. Amit Shahji, who is a master of our organisational affairs, will meet the party's rank and file — from mandal presidents (block-level leaders) to upper-tier functionaries — and is likely to guide them to implement the narrative on the ground to reach out to voters," said a senior BJP leader in Calcutta.
Shah is expected to address around 2,500 BJP leaders, including 1,300 mandal presidents, at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
A source said Shah’s visit to attend Sunday's organisational meeting close on the heels of Modi's visit indicated that the top two BJP leaders were deeply concerned about the 2026 Bengal polls.
Outside his political itinerary, Shah will also inaugurate a new building of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Rajarhat and visit the ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda in Calcutta.
A senior BJP leader said the party had decided to overhaul its political and campaign strategy for the Bengal polls by shifting from individual attack on Mamata to focusing on the failures of the government — including lawlessness, corruption and police high-handedness.
Unlike during his 2021 campaign speeches, in Alipurduar Modi did not mention Mamata by name.
“The personal attacks on Mamata Banerjee did not work in 2021, and probably for that reason, the party has shifted from that strategy,” said a BJP leader.
However, another BJP leader argued that Modiji referred to the Mamata Banerjee government as a “nirmam sarkar (ruthless government)", which unequivocally pointed to the chief minister.
A BJP source said this time the party was focusing on consolidating Hindu votes, particularly in light of the recent communal violence in Murshidabad.
BJP leaders have repeatedly claimed that if the party could consolidate even 4 per cent more Hindu voters, the electoral outcome could swing in their favour.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar on Saturday, in a provocative statement, focused on consolidating Hindu voters above all else.
“The upcoming Bengal elections are not just about removing the TMC and bringing the BJP to power. This election will be the final battle to save the life, livelihood and dignity of Hindus. If we fail this time, the mothers and sisters of our families may have to jump from rooftops to protect their dignity, like in Murshidabad, to escape the jihadis,” said Majumdar.
He alleged that atrocities against Hindus in Bengal resembled those in Bangladesh. The BJP leadership believes that the developments in Bangladesh following Sheikh Hasina’s ouster would help the party in Bengal.
