Is BJP walking into 2021 trap again? Workers revolt over Turncoats
Image credit X @BJP4India
Grassroots protests from Asansol to Cooch Behar and Darjeeling signal dangerous ticket-distribution mismanagement ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls — and BJP workers are openly asking who the new Mukul Roy is
By NIRENDRA DEV
Kolkata, March 23, 2026 — In 2021, it was Mukul Roy — a former Trinamool Congress heavyweight who had crossed over to BJP — who many party workers now believe quietly sabotaged the saffron outfit’s assembly campaign from within. Five years on, with West Bengal heading to polls again in 2026, BJP’s own grassroots are asking an uncomfortable question: is history repeating itself?
Dissidence has spread across the state following the release of candidate lists. Workers have staged protests outside BJP’s Kolkata state headquarters, burned tyres in Malda’s Vaishnavnagar, broken open party office gates in Jalpaiguri’s Mal constituency, and demonstrated with black-cloth protests in Cooch Behar — all over one core grievance: loyal, long-serving karyakartas are being passed over for turncoat nominees who joined the party only recently.
In East Durgapur, the party fielded Chandrashekhar Banerjee, who joined BJP in 2023, bypassing Amitabh Banerjee, a party veteran whose candidacy internal surveys had repeatedly backed. Workers allege the decision came “at the instance of Suvendu Adhikari.” In Kulti, internal surveys favoured Subrata Mishra; the ticket went elsewhere. In Jamuria, ticket aspirant Santosh Singh was overlooked entirely.
“Ticket distribution mismanagement by Mukul Roy spoiled BJP’s game in 2021. Is it another ex-TMC leader doing the same for his earlier boss Mamata?” asks Ashapurna Chowdhury, a BJP worker in Bardhaman Uttar. The question hangs in the air — and another does too. “I have never come across a situation wherein Mamata Banerjee makes any serious allegation against Suvendu. Have you?” says Mithu Banik in Cooch Behar.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya insists the central leadership’s decisions are final and that enthusiasm for the party remains high. But on the ground, the arithmetic is sobering. In Asansol North, BJP’s Krishnendu Mukherjee lost to Trinamool’s Moloy Ghatak by over 21,000 votes in 2021 — a gap that alienated booth workers will not help close.
Political analyst Ramakanto Shanyal puts it plainly: “Between BJP and TMC, when the fight is serious and Left and Congress are almost marginalised, workers’ unhappiness is a serious matter. Victory margins will be much narrower this time.”
Even in BJP’s strongholds — North Bengal, Darjeeling, the Asansol-Durgapur belt — the mood has curdled. The party’s one consolation is that Trinamool’s internal wrangling over tickets is reaching its own fever pitch. But as veteran watcher Nitai Mondal in Asansol warns: “If genuine RSS and BJP cadres remain inactive on polling day because of resentment, the consequences will be disastrous — for BJP and for West Bengal.”
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