Can BJP turn anti-incumbency sentiment into victory in Bengal?
- Shikha Mukerjee
- Updated: Apr 22, 2026, 16:19 IST IST
For five years, BJP laid siege to Mamata Banerjee’s bastion of West Bengal. Now, with the first phase of polling set to begin in the state on April 23, BJP — the largest party in India, and the world — has pulled out all the stops to convince Bengal’s voters that the time for change, or paribartan, has arrived.
The BJP will deliver this paribartan. All voters have to do is reject Banerjee for her failures of governance, the systemic rot evident in the widespread mismanagement and abuse of power by Trinamool Congress’s local bahubalis, shielded by a culpable administration and police. BJP has projected itself as the dependable alternative, the party of bharosa , and positioned itself as one that will provide a ‘double-engine’ sarkar — with a Narendra Modi-led govt at the Centre overseeing a state unit working under his stewardship.
The BJP will deliver this paribartan. All voters have to do is reject Banerjee for her failures of governance, the systemic rot evident in the widespread mismanagement and abuse of power by Trinamool Congress’s local bahubalis, shielded by a culpable administration and police. BJP has projected itself as the dependable alternative, the party of bharosa , and positioned itself as one that will provide a ‘double-engine’ sarkar — with a Narendra Modi-led govt at the Centre overseeing a state unit working under his stewardship.
