Union home minister Amit Shah’s scheduled visit to West Bengal has been postponed by nearly a week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources said on Monday, without providing an official explanation for the delay. Mr Shah was expected to arrive in Kolkata on the night of 31 May and attend two public events.
However, the planned visit has now been deferred, and BJP leaders have refrained from confirming any new dates. The state unit has also not issued any formal statement on Shah’s visit, maintaining silence possibly due to past experiences of last-minute cancellations. A similar visit during the Eid period earlier this year was also scrapped at the eleventh hour. Sources familiar with the matter said the postponement may be linked to ongoing internal organizational decisions within the BJP. The party is expected to finalise the appointment of its next national president within the coming week. According to BJP’s internal norms, the national leadership election process can only move forward once state unit presidents have been selected in at least half of India’s states.
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As of now, appointments are pending in 23 out of 36 state units. This has raised speculation that the BJP may consider bypassing its usual procedure for choosing its next national president. Shah’s rescheduled visit is now likely to take place in the first week of June, after the internal appointments are settled.
Meanwhile, political dynamics within the West Bengal BJP are shifting. Sources indicate that the party’s central leadership has asked veteran leader and former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh to return to his “original form” of active engagement. The RSS, BJP’s ideological parent, has also reportedly advised Ghosh to focus more on party programmes. This comes amid increasing chatter in political circles about whether the BJP’s central command is reconsidering Ghosh’s role in the run-up to upcoming elections.
Despite previous signals from national observers that Ghosh’s political era was waning, his re-emergence on the BJP scene may indicate a strategic recalibration. Whether he is formally included in the state core committee meeting — expected to be held in Shah’s presence during his June Bengal visit — will be a key sign of his future role.