Thursday, 02 April 2026
Thursday, 02 April 2026
In a high-voltage political show of strength, the BJP on Thursday turned Suvendu Adhikari’s nomination filing in Bhabanipur into a massive roadshow, marked by aggressive sloganeering and a brief but tense face-off with Trinamool Congress supporters near Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence.
With chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘BJP zindabad’ echoing through the constituency, Adhikari was joined by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya and other senior leaders.
The roadshow began from Hazra crossing under tight security, with Shah standing atop an open-hood, flower-decked truck adorned with BJP cut-outs and lotus symbols, waving to supporters amid a shower of petals from nearby terraces.
“Today, I have come especially for Suvendu Adhikari’s nomination,” Shah told a gathering at Hazra crossing before the procession began.
As the convoy moved through Bhabanipur — long considered Mamata Banerjee’s political stronghold — saffron flags lined the streets and rooftops, while supporters raised slogans such as ‘Ebar Banglay BJP’ and ‘Mamata hatao, Bangla bachao’.
The BJP leadership, including Rashbehari candidate Swapan Dasgupta and Chowringhee nominee Santosh Pathak, used the occasion to position the Bhabanipur contest as central to its south Kolkata campaign.
Tensions escalated when the roadshow reached Kalighat, just a few hundred metres from Banerjee’s residence, where TMC workers had gathered waving party flags and countering with slogans of ‘Joy Bangla’ and ‘Mamata Banerjee zindabad’.
For several minutes, supporters of both sides stood in close proximity, hurling slogans at each other, prompting police to form a human barricade to keep the groups apart. The standoff briefly disrupted traffic and heightened tensions in the area before the BJP convoy moved on.
The face-off, with saffron flags and green-and-white banners confronting each other across a police cordon, underscored the deepening political polarisation in Bhabanipur and across West Bengal.
