Battle within BJP in Bengal

A worker paints the Trinamool Congress office after the BJP wins the West Bengal assembly elections in Kolkata on May 5, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI

A hundred days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule in West Bengal, a follow-up battle is taking place within the BJP itself in the state.

Taking oath as Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari inherited a state that had voted for a split. Voters rejected extortion, strongmen, patronage, unreliable employment and migration of young Bengalis. The mandate carried particular weight for the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which had spent decades building the organization in the state when electoral power seemed distant.

Published – 01 Sep 2026 0:55 IST