With the New Year ushering in the crucial Assembly election year, the political temperature in North Bengal has begun to rise. Sensing the high electoral stakes, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) have stepped up political mobilisation across the region, signalling the onset of an early and intense campaign battle for 2026.
Senior BJP leader and film actor Mithun Chakraborty has taken the lead in spearheading the party’s outreach in North Bengal. Campaigning under the banner of “Parivartan Sankalpo Sabha”, Chakraborty began his tour from Cooch Behar and proceeded through Jalpaiguri, arriving in Siliguri on Thursday. The campaign is aimed at energising grassroots workers, consolidating organisational strength and sharpening the BJP’s poll narrative in the region.
Continuing the BJP’s offensive, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari held a Parivartan Sankalpo Sabha at Chanchal in North Malda on Friday. Addressing the gathering, Adhikari launched a sharp attack on the Trinamul Congress and cited the 2024 Lok Sabha election results to bolster his claims.
“TMC failed to manage a lead in even a single Assembly segment out of the 12 in Malda. In fact, the people of Malda have rejected TMC since 2011,” Adhikari claimed.
Escalating his criticism, the Leader of Opposition referred to the recent killing of Dipu Das in Bangladesh and drew comparisons with incidents in Mothabari in Malda and Dhulian in Murshidabad during protests against the Waqf Amendment Bill. Adhikari accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of allowing riots and attacks on Hindus, alleging that such incidents were being tolerated to fuel polarisation ahead of the Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, the ruling TMC has also begun firming up its political roadmap for North Bengal. Party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is expected to formally kick off his campaign from Cooch Behar, tentatively on 13 January, indicating an aggressive counter-outreach by the ruling party.
Adding further momentum to the political churn, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is tentatively scheduled to visit Malda on 18 January to address a central rally. In anticipation of the Prime Minister’s visit, preparations are already underway in North Malda. Simultaneously, the Darjeeling district administration and senior political leaders have begun parallel preparations to organise a programme of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri around mid-January.
North Malda MP Khagen Murmu confirmed that groundwork has begun to organise the Prime Minister’s rally at a suitable venue within the North Malda parliamentary constituency. Speaking to reporters, Murmu said the rally is being planned with a clear focus on the upcoming Assembly elections and the BJP’s objective of strengthening its position in Malda.
Malda holds strategic political significance as the southernmost district of North Bengal, bordering South Bengal and Murshidabad district along the banks of the Ganges. The region remains electorally sensitive due to the presence of several Muslim-dominated Assembly segments under the South Malda parliamentary constituency and in neighbouring Murshidabad.
Of the 12 Assembly segments in Malda district, the BJP won five seats in the 2021 Assembly elections but failed to retain the Hindu-dominated Baishnabnagar seat in South Malda. The TMC, on the other hand, secured seven seats by defeating both the Congress and the BJP, including victories in traditionally Congress-dominated areas. Notably, the ruling party won four seats by fielding Hindu candidates, underlining its calibrated electoral strategy in the district.
Against this backdrop, the BJP is aiming to significantly improve its tally in Malda and has decided to launch its focused campaign with a high-profile rally addressed by Prime Minister Modi.
The TMC, meanwhile, appears to be countering the BJP’s narrative with a different political and developmental pitch. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to lay the foundation stone for a Mahakal Temple in Siliguri, along with a conference centre envisioned as a venue for global summits.
On Friday, Siliguri Mayor Goutam Deb, Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority Chairman Dilip Dugar, along with senior officials from the district administration, police and HIDCO, visited the site earmarked for the project.
According to official sources, the Chief Minister may visit Siliguri in mid-January to lay the foundation stone. Mayor Goutam Deb said preparatory work has already begun to ready the plot of land for the Chief Minister’s programme.