Shah visit likely around Bengali New Year as BJP ups ante over SSC row
The Statesman | 5 April 2025
With an eye on the 2026 Assembly election, the BJP’s top brass is strategising how to leverage upcoming religious events — Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti — to consolidate its support base.
In light of the developments, Union home minister and former BJP national president Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Bengal on 14-15, April, sources have confirmed. Although there is no official communication from the Centre yet, the state BJP has indicated his visit verbally.
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Senior BJP leaders held a crucial meeting on Friday to discuss how to mobilise public sentiments around these festivals without overt party branding, while still pushing the Hindutva narrative.
Earlier slated to visit in March, Shah’s trip was postponed. His upcoming visit now coincides with Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year) on 14 April. During his two-day visit, Shah is expected to attend multiple organisational meetings, interact with state BJP leaders, and possibly offer prayers at the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. The visit comes at a time when the party is aggressively campaigning around the Supreme Court’s cancellation of nearly 26,000 SSC recruitments, turning it into a major electoral issue.
The West Bengal BJP leadership, including Suvendu Adhikari, Sukanta Majumdar, and Dilip Ghosh, has intensified its Hindutva pitch in recent weeks. Political observers believe Amit Shah will use this visit to fine-tune the party’s strategy and ramp up its ground-level campaigns. Speculation is also rife regarding a possible change in state leadership, with discussions about who will steer the party in Bengal going forward. The BJP’s core committee had recently met in Salt Lake to deliberate on these matters, and Shah’s visit is likely to cement key decisions.
Meanwhile, there is not yet announcement on district presidents in 10 organisational districts, and several mandal-level committees are yet to be formed. BJP national leaders like Sunil Bansal and Amit Malviya joined Friday’s organisational meeting in Kolkata to accelerate these pending tasks. The BJP’s state leadership has already announced several programmes related to the SSC recruitment issue and plans to intensify protests at district levels. Simultaneously, the party is aiming to involve as many people as possible in Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti celebrations to project a strong cultural-religious connect. Adding to the political churn, protests have also begun over the controversial Waqf Amendment Bill, with Muslim organisations and opposition parties hitting the streets. Amid this charged atmosphere, BJP is preparing for an aggressive political push in Bengal post-Poila Boishakh.