West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya (File photo/ANI) Are you a film buff? The question seems to catch Samik Bhattacharya slightly off guard. He had been listing the celebrities set to campaign for the BJP in West Bengal. But he ends up giving an answer that feels distinctly Bengali. He says he is more comfortable in theatre and, in less demanding times, was an active participant too.For someone who says he appreciates poetry and has a self-confessed weakness for Shakti Chattopadhyay, that love for theatre feels like a natural corollary. In that sense, the West Bengal BJP president might seem more at ease in a freewheeling adda in a Kolkata by-lane with intellectuals of opposing political beliefs than some of his party colleagues.That he is trying to build from Bengal’s past to imagine its future is evident in the way he talks about a Bengal model of development instead of a bulldozer model, rooted in the legacy of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Bidhan Chandra Roy, the state’s first chief minister after Independence and one of the tallest Congress leaders Bengal has produced. That instinct to extend courtesy to opponents continues even when he speaks of present rivals. He describes Abhishek Banerjee as smart and articulate, an assessment that carries respect even across political lines.But when it comes to political groundwork, Samik is unrelenting. In a no-frills apartment in Salt Lake, where he is currently based for the election, he patiently listens to streams of party workers arriving to fine-tune strategy, seek reinforcements or ask for solutions. Asked to compare the BJP’s ground game with the Trinamool Congress’s battle-hardened electoral machinery, he pauses. Then he says plans are in place, and points to 2011, when the TMC swept the Left out of power despite organisational disadvantages of its own.He leans on the BJP slogan that this election is Janata versus Mamata and claims the TMC will be wiped out in North Bengal, from Darjeeling to Malda. Yet when asked how the BJP reconciles with sharing political space with figures like Bimal Gurung, who openly championed Gorkhaland, the careful political persona comes through. He says the people of the hills have been historically deprived, deceived and culturally ridiculed. Their grievances, he says, must be addressed, but he rules out any partition of West Bengal.Bhattacharya is candid in admitting that the BJP has historically performed poorly in the old Kolkata Presidency region, where 109 seats are at stake. But he insists the party will do much better this time, with even Mamata’s Bhowanipore shaping up, in his telling, as a tough contest. He goes so far as to suggest that Mamata Banerjee may have already filed her last nomination. On Junglemahal, another BJP bright spot in 2021, he says the party has learnt from its setbacks in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. He predicts a comfortable BJP majority, claiming the party could cross 175 seats. The mood for change, he says, is building across the state.Beneath the confidence lies a larger argument about Bengal itself. This election, he suggests, could alter the state’s political narrative. Referring to Ashoknagar, where oil was discovered but development has moved slowly, he alleges that such projects were stalled because of vendetta politics. It is a familiar BJP charge against the Trinamool, but he uses it to make a broader point that Bengal has been denied not just better governance, but momentum itself.On the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Bhattacharya sounds dissatisfied, even aggrieved. He says he is unhappy with the process surrounding the deletion of names. He alleges that the TMC put pressure on poll officials and even judicial officers. He also claims that in some places Form 7 applications were burnt while the police remained silent spectators. By criticising the process, the leader also appears to be creating an outlet for the anger building among some BJP support bases, including Matuas, over large-scale deletions. For him, the priorities of a future BJP government are simple: improve law and order, restore democracy and re-establish constitutional norms.On infiltration, he enters more familiar BJP territory. He calls it an “international conspiracy” and, when pressed about the role of the BSF under the Union home ministry, says greater public awareness is needed to stop it. Yet even there, he adds a careful caveat that no Indian Muslim’s name, he says, should be cut from the electoral rolls. It is an attempt to hold together the BJP’s harder border politics with some degree of reassurance against blanket exclusion.He is pragmatic on welfare too, despite recognising the fiscal strain on a cash-strapped state like West Bengal. Lakshmir Bhandar, he says, would not be removed if the BJP came to power. Instead, it would be doubled and rebranded as Annapurna Bhandar.He is equally dismissive of the claim that fish would disappear from Bengali plates under BJP rule. If the BJP wins, he jokes, they would send fish to the chief minister. He strikes a similar note when asked about Mamata Banerjee’s temple politics, including the Jagannath temple in Digha and similar announcements in Siliguri. Asked whether Mamata is chasing the BJP’s Hindu vote bank, Samik replies with humour that even the gods are angry with the chief minister.On candidate changes, the ticket given to tainted leaders like Rakesh Singh, and the exclusion of Ashok Lahiri, he is unfazed. These are internal decisions, he says, and they will not alter the larger outcome.Taken together, Bhattacharya’s pitch is both blunt and layered. He is clear that BJPs governance model would be firmer, though still framed within the Constitution, and that sectors such as education and health would need rebuilding. He has been with the BJP for more than four decades, from a time when people had to be told the difference between the Janata Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party. From there to what many see as the BJP’s best chance yet of taking power in Bengal, this is close to a full-circle moment for him. While many pollsters believe the BJP may win around 120 seats in the 294-member Assembly, Samik points to Haryana and Delhi, where the party outperformed pre-poll expectations, and argues that a final Modi-Shah push will take it past the halfway mark.Samik is not a mass crowd-puller like Suvendu Adhikari, nor an organisational force in the mould of Dilip Ghosh. What he does bring is a language of civility, visible in the ease with which he quotes Tagore while parrying uncomfortable questions. In his writings, Samik does not concede Bengal’s literary and civilisational icons to the liberal or Left imagination. He wants to enter that space and rearrange it, arguing that cultural legitimacy and nationalist politics need not exist in separate worlds. He is presenting himself as a Bengali conservative who sounds culturally literate, historically grounded and socially recognisable.Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has long tried to paint the BJP as bohiragato zamindars, outsiders seeking to reset Bengal’s politics and culture. With Samik at the helm, the BJP will hope that line of attack loses some force. In Bengal, the party has often appeared culturally external, politically forceful but emotionally distant. Whether Samik can help soften that perception may, in the end, shape how far the BJP can go in challenging Mamata Banerjee.End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosIndia-South Korea Mega Deal: PM Modi & Lee Jae Myung Target 50 Billion Trade, Boost TiesFire Erupts At Rajasthan’s HPCL Refinery Ahead Of PM Modi’s Launch EventNSA Doval Meets Top Saudi Leaders, Focus On Security And EnergyFact Check: No, Indian Navy Did NOT Detain Somali Pirates In Viral VideoTMC Hits Out At PM Modi Over Jhalmuri Stop, Claims Hemant Soren Forced To ReturnTMC vs Himanta Biswa Sarma Erupts As Mamata Banerjee Row Sparks Election Commission ComplaintManipur Erupts In Anger As No Arrests Made After 5 Killings, Protests Turn Violent‘Ripple Impact On India…’: Misri After Indian Tankers Hit In HormuzUS Nationals Detained At Srinagar Airport Over Banned Satellite DeviceNo Fuel Shortage: Govt Assures 100% Domestic Gas Supply As India’s LPG Demand Falls 13% In March123PhotostoriesWhy non-vegetarian thali has become cheaper than vegetarian thaliDoes your home breathe? 5 lessons to learn from the timeless beauty of Chettinad interiorsGurgaon SPR bottleneck sparks urgent road expansion, missing link reopened7 morning affirmations that work for sure (why are they so powerful)Best exercises for liver health, according to expert: How walking, strength training, and HIIT can reduce fatty liverFrom building 5 businesses at 24 to being told to retire despite a net worth of approximately Rs 250 crore- Jannat Zubair gets candid8 traditional Mango pickles from across India to tryLessons you should learn from Adi Shankaracharya; based on your birth dateVinod Kambli’s ₹8 crore apartment in Bandra, Mumbai is defined by a Sachin-Kambli friendship wall, untold struggles, and family-first living8 Habits that quietly destroy your inner peace123Hot PicksIran warDelimitation Bill DefeatPurple cap winnerOrange cap winnerIPL Points TablePublic holidays April 2026Bank Holidays AprilTop TrendingBan vs NZKanpur MurderAndhra Pradesh Bomb ExplodeKanpur Rape CaseTCS Nashik CaseJammu Bus AccidentAndhra Pradesh MurderLucknow Girl MurderTamil Nadu Firecracker Unit BlastJapan Earthquake
Are you a film buff? The question seems to catch Samik Bhattacharya slightly off guard. He had been listing the celebrities set to campaign for the BJP in West Bengal. But he ends up giving an answer that feels distinctly Bengali. He says he is more comfortable in theatre and, in less demanding times, was an active participant too.For someone who says he appreciates poetry and has a self-confessed weakness for Shakti Chattopadhyay, that love for theatre feels like a natural corollary. In that sense, the West Bengal BJP president might seem more at ease in a freewheeling adda in a Kolkata by-lane with intellectuals of opposing political beliefs than some of his party colleagues.That he is trying to build from Bengal’s past to imagine its future is evident in the way he talks about a Bengal model of development instead of a bulldozer model, rooted in the legacy of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Bidhan Chandra Roy, the state’s first chief minister after Independence and one of the tallest Congress leaders Bengal has produced. That instinct to extend courtesy to opponents continues even when he speaks of present rivals. He describes Abhishek Banerjee as smart and articulate, an assessment that carries respect even across political lines.But when it comes to political groundwork, Samik is unrelenting. In a no-frills apartment in Salt Lake, where he is currently based for the election, he patiently listens to streams of party workers arriving to fine-tune strategy, seek reinforcements or ask for solutions. Asked to compare the BJP’s ground game with the Trinamool Congress’s battle-hardened electoral machinery, he pauses. Then he says plans are in place, and points to 2011, when the TMC swept the Left out of power despite organisational disadvantages of its own.He leans on the BJP slogan that this election is Janata versus Mamata and claims the TMC will be wiped out in North Bengal, from Darjeeling to Malda. Yet when asked how the BJP reconciles with sharing political space with figures like Bimal Gurung, who openly championed Gorkhaland, the careful political persona comes through. He says the people of the hills have been historically deprived, deceived and culturally ridiculed. Their grievances, he says, must be addressed, but he rules out any partition of West Bengal.Bhattacharya is candid in admitting that the BJP has historically performed poorly in the old Kolkata Presidency region, where 109 seats are at stake. But he insists the party will do much better this time, with even Mamata’s Bhowanipore shaping up, in his telling, as a tough contest. He goes so far as to suggest that Mamata Banerjee may have already filed her last nomination. On Junglemahal, another BJP bright spot in 2021, he says the party has learnt from its setbacks in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. He predicts a comfortable BJP majority, claiming the party could cross 175 seats. The mood for change, he says, is building across the state.Beneath the confidence lies a larger argument about Bengal itself. This election, he suggests, could alter the state’s political narrative. Referring to Ashoknagar, where oil was discovered but development has moved slowly, he alleges that such projects were stalled because of vendetta politics. It is a familiar BJP charge against the Trinamool, but he uses it to make a broader point that Bengal has been denied not just better governance, but momentum itself.On the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Bhattacharya sounds dissatisfied, even aggrieved. He says he is unhappy with the process surrounding the deletion of names. He alleges that the TMC put pressure on poll officials and even judicial officers. He also claims that in some places Form 7 applications were burnt while the police remained silent spectators. By criticising the process, the leader also appears to be creating an outlet for the anger building among some BJP support bases, including Matuas, over large-scale deletions. For him, the priorities of a future BJP government are simple: improve law and order, restore democracy and re-establish constitutional norms.On infiltration, he enters more familiar BJP territory. He calls it an “international conspiracy” and, when pressed about the role of the BSF under the Union home ministry, says greater public awareness is needed to stop it. Yet even there, he adds a careful caveat that no Indian Muslim’s name, he says, should be cut from the electoral rolls. It is an attempt to hold together the BJP’s harder border politics with some degree of reassurance against blanket exclusion.He is pragmatic on welfare too, despite recognising the fiscal strain on a cash-strapped state like West Bengal. Lakshmir Bhandar, he says, would not be removed if the BJP came to power. Instead, it would be doubled and rebranded as Annapurna Bhandar.He is equally dismissive of the claim that fish would disappear from Bengali plates under BJP rule. If the BJP wins, he jokes, they would send fish to the chief minister. He strikes a similar note when asked about Mamata Banerjee’s temple politics, including the Jagannath temple in Digha and similar announcements in Siliguri. Asked whether Mamata is chasing the BJP’s Hindu vote bank, Samik replies with humour that even the gods are angry with the chief minister.On candidate changes, the ticket given to tainted leaders like Rakesh Singh, and the exclusion of Ashok Lahiri, he is unfazed. These are internal decisions, he says, and they will not alter the larger outcome.Taken together, Bhattacharya’s pitch is both blunt and layered. He is clear that BJPs governance model would be firmer, though still framed within the Constitution, and that sectors such as education and health would need rebuilding. He has been with the BJP for more than four decades, from a time when people had to be told the difference between the Janata Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party. From there to what many see as the BJP’s best chance yet of taking power in Bengal, this is close to a full-circle moment for him. While many pollsters believe the BJP may win around 120 seats in the 294-member Assembly, Samik points to Haryana and Delhi, where the party outperformed pre-poll expectations, and argues that a final Modi-Shah push will take it past the halfway mark.Samik is not a mass crowd-puller like Suvendu Adhikari, nor an organisational force in the mould of Dilip Ghosh. What he does bring is a language of civility, visible in the ease with which he quotes Tagore while parrying uncomfortable questions. In his writings, Samik does not concede Bengal’s literary and civilisational icons to the liberal or Left imagination. He wants to enter that space and rearrange it, arguing that cultural legitimacy and nationalist politics need not exist in separate worlds. He is presenting himself as a Bengali conservative who sounds culturally literate, historically grounded and socially recognisable.Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has long tried to paint the BJP as bohiragato zamindars, outsiders seeking to reset Bengal’s politics and culture. With Samik at the helm, the BJP will hope that line of attack loses some force. In Bengal, the party has often appeared culturally external, politically forceful but emotionally distant. Whether Samik can help soften that perception may, in the end, shape how far the BJP can go in challenging Mamata Banerjee.
