Trinamool launches micro meetings in Dooars tea gardens ahead of Assembly polls
Telegraph | 23 January 2026
The trade union of the Trinamool Congress has commenced organising micro-level meetings in the tea gardens of the Dooars to strengthen the party ahead of the Assembly elections.
Tea garden workers and their families determine the electoral outcome in 10 to 12 of 54 Assembly seats in north Bengal.
To consolidate its base, Trinamool has intensified direct engagement with tea garden dwellers.
On January 3, Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee attended a programme on the Majherdabri tea estate on the outskirts of Alipurduar town. It was the first time that he directly addressed tea garden workers from the dais and sought to understand their day-to-day problems.
During the programme, workers were provided with forms to record their grievances, which were later deposited in a box.
Following the event, district-level leaders and office-bearers of the Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union were instructed to organise micro-level meetings in tea gardens.
On Tuesday, the first such meeting was held at Kalchini in the presence of state INTTUC president Ritabrata Banerjee.
“The objective of these meetings is to inform tea garden residents about various welfare and development schemes of the state government and provide a platform to workers to voice their concerns directly before party leaders,” Banerjee said.
Since then, small meetings at local levels are being organised every day on different tea estates in Alipurduar district. The same initiative will also be taken up in the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district, sources said.
The tea garden residents have reportedly welcomed the initiative, expressing satisfaction at being able to convey their problems directly to political representatives. Local Trinamool leaders described the exercise as encouraging.
“These micro-level meetings have inspired local leaders to reach out to people and exchange views. It has become easier to inform tea garden workers about government social schemes, while at the same time we are learning about their problems,” said Ganga Prasad Sharma, the Alipurduar district chairman of Trinamool.
Political analysts view the move as a strategic attempt by the Trinamool to prevent the BJP from gaining ground in tea garden areas. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP had bagged most of the Assembly seats in the tea belt, both in the plains and the hills.
“It is a challenge for the BJP to retain these seats as Trinamool is desperate to win the seats this time. Also, organisational weakness at the booth level is another problem that the BJP has to handle,” said a political observer.
Tea trade unions of the BJP, however, asserted that the tea population would continue to stand in their support.
“The plans of Trinamool will fail again. In many tea gardens, wages have remained unpaid for months. With no effective implementation of the minimum wage rate, workers have lost faith in the TMC. Like previous years, tea garden workers will support the BJP this time as well,” said Rajesh Barla, the general secretary of the BJP-backed Bharatiya Tea Workers’ Union.