PM Modi’s city visit a step in BJP’s push for Bengal pie
The Statesman | 15 August 2025
As West Bengal edges closer to its 2026 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is sharpening its political focus on the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kolkata on 22 August for a series of administrative and political engagements, a trip party leaders are billing as a significant step in the BJP’s outreach campaign.
The centrepiece of Mr Modi’s visit will be the inauguration of three new Kolkata Metro routes and a public rally. BJP leaders are framing the Metro expansion as a “historic gift” for West Bengal ahead of Durga Puja. State party president and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar announced the visit on social media after receiving a formal invitation from railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The visit comes just weeks after Mr Modi’s trips to Alipurduar on 29 May and Durgapur on 18 July. Party sources said the Prime Minister is expected to attend up to 10 administrative and political programmes in the state before the end of the year.
The BJP has been working to consolidate its presence in West Bengal after making inroads in the 2019 general elections and mounting a strong but ultimately unsuccessful challenge to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress in the 2021 Assembly polls. The party hopes that high-profile visits, infrastructure announcements, and targeted public engagements will help it gain ground ahead of the 2026 race. However, political observers note that while development projects are popular talking points, the BJP faces significant challenges in sustaining momentum in a state where regional identity and welfare politics have traditionally shaped electoral outcomes.
The TMC, meanwhile, has accused the BJP of “politicising” central projects to influence voters. With the Assembly election still more than a year away, Mr Modi’s August visit signals the BJP’s intent to keep West Bengal firmly on its political radar — and to use infrastructure as both a development pitch and a campaign tool.