Chandra Kumar Bose, great-nephew of Subhas Chandra Bose and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday, just days ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal.
Formally joining the ruling party in the presence of state minister Bratya Basu and TMC MP Kirti Azad, he alleged that the BJP was engaging in “divisive politics” and did not adhere to the ideals of the iconic freedom fighter.
“The BJP is against the constitution because its single-point agenda is to divide and rule, to divide communities for vote bank politics. The British, their policy was divide and rule. The BJP is practicing the same politics as the British. They are bringing religion into politics, against politics that was vehemently opposed by my grandfather Sarat Chandra Bose and his younger brother Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
According to PTI, he added, “When you are in the BJP, it is not possible to follow Netaji’s ideals. We must now fight to save India and resist divisive politics.”
Chandra Bose said that the Trinamool Congress has emerged as a clear winner in the West Bengal Assembly elections. He added that the party has a greater responsibility to promote unity in the country and that like-minded political groups should come together to support the idea of being ‘Bharatiya’.
He also expressed his belief that Mamata Banerjee would win the election while noting that he was not making predictions as an astrologer.
Joining the BJP was a “historic mistake”, says Chandra Bose
Chandra Bose joined the BJP in 2016 and contested the Bhabanipur assembly election that year, where he was defeated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He later contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Kolkata Dakshin but failed again.
Over time, his differences with the BJP leadership grew, eventually leading to his resignation from the party in September 2023. After his retirement from saffron, Bose has repeatedly expressed appreciation for Banerjee’s stances on various issues.
On March 27, Chandra Bose called his decision to join the BJP a “historic mistake” in a social media post. He wrote that he could not accept any political party whose strategy was to divide voters for electoral gains.
West Bengal Elections
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. The upcoming elections come against the backdrop of the 2021 contest in which the Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory with 213 seats. However, the BJP’s rise from a fringe presence to securing 77 seats in this election has intensified the stakes for the current contest.
