State BJP warned against personal attacks on Mamata

Pradip Chatterjee, MP, 23 Oct 2025, Kolkata: Having faced a “miserable defeat” in the 2021 Assembly elections in the state, the saffron brigade may change its stance and shun personal attacks on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during its 2026 Assembly poll campaigns. 

After TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee recently launched a new digital outreach initiative titled “Ami Banglar Digital Joddha”, the BJP is also trying to strengthen its digital campaign by hiring five experts from outside. 

Sources in the BJP said that the state party leaders have been alerted by the Central leaders not to unleash any personal attack on Banerjee. The top brass of the BJP also spelt out guidelines saying that issue-based campaigns should be given utmost priority during the campaigns for the upcoming 2026 polls. 

The saffron party may lay emphasis on CAA before the next year’s elections, sources said. Plans are being chalked out by the saffron camp to hold about 700 CAA-related camps in the bordering areas of the state after Jagadhhatri Puja. 

Even after their defeat in 2021 Assembly polls in Bengal the central BJP leaders had said that they did not understand the “pulse” of the state while some of their party leaders in the state continued to pass personal remarks against the Bengal Chief Minister. 

The whole image of Mamata Banerjee on a wheelchair had created a fighting image as well as sympathy for her, especially among the women voters, a senior BJP leader had pointed out after his party’s poll debacle in 2021. 

Trinamool Congress supremo, on the other hand, countered the BJP’s negative campaigns by showcasing a series of development works in the state. After Abhishek Banerjee recently launched a new digital outreach initiative titled “Ami Banglar Digital Joddha” (I Am Bengal’s Digital Warrior), aiming to counter the BJP’s “lies and propaganda” and also to protect Bengal’s identity and legacy, the BJP is also set to utilise five social media experts from outside Bengal. 

A meeting was recently held by the state BJP leaders in this regard. The saffron party’s initiative apparently aimed to counter Abhishek’s digital platform. All the political parties now feel that social media campaigns are going to shape the tone of the election campaign in this era.