Trinamul Congress (TMC) leaders across north Bengal are in full swing, holding a series of intensive meetings from Malda to Cooch Behar and preparing to descend on Kolkata for the party’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally on 21 July.
The event, always significant, carries heightened political weight this year with the 2026 Assembly elections on the horizon.
Trinamul workers have already started their journey from Cooch Behar, while district units are mobilising unprecedented numbers to mark the event as a show of strength. Senior leaders are framing this rally as a strategic prelude to the electoral fight ahead.
Significantly, on Friday, as a group of TMC workers were en route to Kolkata, BJP MLA from Mathabhanga, Sushil Barman, was attacked when his vehicle crossed their path. The mob allegedly smashed the rear windscreen of his car and encircled him. It was only after a tense standoff that his personal security team managed to rescue him.
“In every meeting, we’ve made it clear—this isn’t just about July 21. This is the beginning of our battle for 2026,” said a TMC functionary from Malda.
While Bengal’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is focusing on consolidating the Hindu vote bank with a polarising narrative, TMC is countering with a call for communal unity. The party is actively appealing to both Hindus and Muslims to close ranks in order to defeat the BJP’s divisive politics in the region.
At a meeting in English Bazaar today, a local TMC leader sharply criticised BJP MLA Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury’s disconnect with the electorate.
“Since 2021, Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury has been missing from public life. It’s not just her failure—the BJP must take responsibility. Voters supported the BJP, not its candidate,” he said.
It’s worth noting that Ms Chowdhury won the 2021 elections despite being hospitalised in Kolkata with Covid-19 at the time—testament to the strong polarisation along communal lines that still lingers in central West Bengal, observers say.
Appealing directly to voters, the TMC leader urged unity: “English Bazaar must rise above divisions. Hindus and Muslims must fight together to defeat the BJP in 2026.”
Political analysts observe that while Hindu votes remain fragmented across North Bengal, a majority still lean toward the BJP—drawn by narratives around communal violence, corruption, and recruitment scams amplified by saffron leaders. But they also note a crucial shift – Suvendu Adhikari’s hyper-aggressive rhetoric on Hindutva and personal jibes at chief minister Mamata Banerjee have pushed Muslim voters firmly into the TMC camp.
One of the presidents of BJP’s organisational districts in northern north Bengal said, “Suvendu has lost popularity among our party leaders and workers because he has deviated from the core message of our top leader Narendra Modi — sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka viswas.”
From Kanthi to Kaliachak, TMC supporters have launched coordinated social media attacks on Adhikari, unearthing his past pro-TMC remarks to expose his political flip-flop.
Malda district TMC president Rahim Boxi today said: “Suvendu Adhikari, once close to Mamata Banerjee, now calls her ‘Mamata Begum’? We will teach him a lesson. We will break his political back.”