Kolkata: The West Bengal BJP is grappling with its ambitious goal of enrolling 1 crore members in Mamata Banerjee’s state. According to party sources, around 43 lakh primary members have been inducted since November. BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya, who is overseeing the membership drive, expressed confidence to ThePrint that the party would surpass the 50-lakh mark by the end of the week as recruitment efforts intensify. Bhattacharya dismissed allegations of a sluggish campaign, attributing delays to Durga Puja celebrations and public protests over the RG Kar rape and murder case in Kolkata, which briefly gripped the state.

“As the world’s largest political party, we don’t need to state how many members we have. Even if the media claims we haven’t been able to reach our target, it’s incorrect. The BJP doesn’t put out membership numbers officially, but we will easily cross the 50-lakh mark this week,” he said.

However, the ground reality appears different, as senior BJP leaders like Mithun Chakraborty and  Locket Chatterjee have been spotted urging citizens to join the Bharatiya Janata Party at street corners across Kolkata.

“Currently we are in the process of registering active members of the BJP. Only an active member is eligible to contest for party posts. If a primary member inducts 50 new members in the party, he/she is elevated as an active member,” explained a BJP office bearer at the Kolkata BJP headquarters.

The BJP’s membership drive, conducted every six years, witnessed a surge in West Bengal in 2019. Reports indicate that the party’s membership soared by 140 percent, with 35 lakh new members joining, bringing the total to 60 lakh. This surge translated into significant success in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP won 18 of the state’s 42 seats, signaling its growing influence and organisational strength in West Bengal.

However, 6 years later, the scenario has shifted, with a sharp decline of approximately 40 percent in the party’s membership, reportedly.

According to former Bengal BJP chief Tathagata Roy, the absence of a full-time state president could be a factor.

“Dr Sukanta Majumdar is a junior minister in the central government and the state chief. This impacts the party because one can’t handle two big posts. The state unit needs a full-time state chief,” Roy explained while speaking to ThePrint.

Bengal BJP will be holding organisational elections after the completion of the membership drive and elect a state president as West Bengal gears for Assembly polls in early 2026.

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BJP’s influence in Bengal has weakened

Actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty, while leading a BJP membership drive in Kolkata last month, claimed, while speaking to the media, that the party had deliberately set an ambitious target to exceed its actual goal, though he refrained from revealing specific numbers. During a membership drive in the city last month, led by former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, residents seemed hesitant to sign up. TV news coverage showed people declining and walking away as party workers appealed for new members.

This trend was evident in the party’s performance in last year’s Lok Sabha elections. The BJP managed to win 12 out of 42 seats, six fewer than in 2019. Meanwhile, the TMC increased its seat count significantly, from 22 to 29. In terms of vote share, the BJP saw a decline from 42 percent in 2019 to 38 percent, a drop of 4 percentage points. In contrast, the TMC boosted its vote share from 43 percent in 2019 to 46 percent, marking a 3-percentage point increase.

Political scientists observe that the BJP has lost momentum in West Bengal primarily because its ideological vision fails to resonate with voters in the eastern state. Additionally, its perceived anti-Muslim stance has further alienated sections of voters.

“The BJP has lost its momentum because this organizational drive is more likely to be establishment-driven rather than ideological. Top leaders, full of electoral promises, have tried to increase the numbers. In 2019, it was more about appealing to anti-establishment sentiments. Members came with dreams that have proven to be false,” said analyst Udayan Bandyopadhyay, a political science professor at Bangabasi College, Kolkata, to ThePrint.

A professor in the department of international relations at Jadavpur University, Ishani Naskar also highlighted the TMC’s welfare schemes, which have garnered unwavering support in rural areas, making the opposition appear weak.

“Majority of the rural electorates are satisfied by the welfare schemes of direct cash transfer. While one doesn’t know how long such doles can be incurred by the state government that is debt ridden, the electorates don’t consider other political choices since a party like BJP doesn’t talk about new schemes that could benefit the people,” she explained.

The Mamata Banerjee government’s ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’, a cash incentive program benefiting 2.18 crore women, has proven to be a successful vote magnet, particularly in rural areas, and played a key role in the party’s 2024 Lok Sabha election victory.

“Even though the Central government has welfare schemes for all states, the BJP unit here has never really taken that message to the people. The TMC has utilised that opportunity to instead highlight the BJP-led central government’s fund squeeze in Bengal. But, most importantly, BJP is a cadre-based party, known for a strong Hindutva ideology that electorates of Bengal don’t connect with because the erstwhile Congress and Left governments here practiced pluralism,” added Professor Naskar.

Naskar also observed that the BJP’s anti-Muslim image has harmed its state unit in Bengal, which has a significant minority population. “If you look at the BJP’s push for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Bengal, which it used as a campaign plank during the state elections, it failed to uphold the message of granting citizenship to marginalised populations from neighbouring countries. Instead, it was perceived as an anti-minority move that the TMC capitalised on.”

All these factors, adds Naskar, did not resonate with the people of Bengal, making the BJP a weak challenger to the TMC and significantly reducing its support in the state.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)

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