Alipurduar march against Nabin plan; Trinamool leaders seek to cash in on BJP chief's remark on town's name
Telegraph | 12 April 2026
Residents of Alipurduar on Friday took out a march in protest against BJP national president Nitin Nabin’s remark that the town would be renamed if the BJP came to power in Bengal after the Assembly polls.
The march started from the College Halt area of the Alipurduar town and ended at Mahakal Dham.
Nabin reportedly struggled to pronounce “Alipurduar” while addressing a public meeting at Sonapur in Alipurduar 1 block on Wednesday. He then said that if the BJP won the elections, the name of Alipurduar might be changed.
While speaking at another public meeting in North Dinajpur on Thursday, he referred to Alipurduar and Islampur, hinting that the names of the two places have Islamic prefixes.
“Such names aren’t in sync with our culture and tradition. If we form the government here, we will change the names,” said Nabin.
The remark triggered widespread criticism on social media, placing Alipurduar BJP leaders in a difficult position.
While mindful of public sentiment in the district, they have neither openly supported nor criticised their national president’s statement. They largely refrained from responding to questions on the issue on the online platform.
The Trinamool Congress has picked up the issue to capitalise on the controversy ahead of the elections, given the strong local sentiment against Nabin’s proposal.
A significant number of Trinamool leaders, like district president Prakash Chik Baraik, Prasenjit Kar, the civic chairman, and Dipto Chatterjee, the town block president of the party, participated in Friday’s procession
“A leader like Nitin Nabin visited Alipurduar but did not say a word about key demands such as the construction of a hospital or the proposed airport in Hasimara. Instead, he spoke about changing the town’s name. If any such move is initiated, the people of Alipurduar will strongly oppose it,” said Baraik.
Paritosh Das, the BJP candidate of Alipurduar, declined to comment on the controversy.
“Our sole focus is to win all five seats in Alipurduar district. We are working around the clock to achieve that goal,” he said.