With the state’s Assembly elections just around the corner, West Bengal BJP leadership has planned a programme called ‘Gram Chalo’ to reach the grassroots levels in villages.
According to sources, the BJP’s aim is to make the party’s urban leaders and Ministers visit rural Bengal and connect with people there.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had lost six seats in West Bengal, taking it from 18 to 12 seats. The party had then held a series of meetings to understand the reason for the loss. Sources said the party realised it was competing on equal terms with the Trinamool Congress in semi-urban or urban areas, with the BJP even ahead in some of these parts, but that when it came to rural areas, the saffron party had been behind by a lot.
The main reason for this, sources said, was organisational weakness and the inability to convey the party’s policies and ideals at the grassroots level.
The Gram Chalo program had been earlier planned as well, but it could not take off. Previously, the BJP tried to get all the party’s top officials, including the old and new mandal presidents, block and panchayat members, and municipal councilors, to head towards the villages. Each worker was instructed to visit a village, neighbourhood or slum for eight hours. It was also planned that during the visit to these areas, cleanliness drives would be conducted in temples, hospitals, schools or on the streets.
According to the reports from the district level, this program was held in half of the Mandal committees, out of about 1,300. Only a handful of workers and supporters came out.
Now, keeping the 2026 Assembly elections in mind, the party will be sending its top-level leaders to the villages. According to sources, instructions have been given at the central leadership level that the state BJP’s frontline leaders will have to go to the lower levels and carry out public relations programs. For this, a schedule for the frontline leaders will also be fixed.
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Top leaders of the party like Sukanta Majmudar, Suvendu Adhikari, Agnimitra Pal, Jagannath Chatterjee, and Locket Chatterjee will participate in this program. They will also meet with ten beneficiaries each of various Central schemes. There are also talks of processions on the streets with BJP flags and workers to make themselves more visible.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
