Overview

• Samik Bhattacharya formally took charge as West Bengal BJP president on July 3 and has since stressed an inclusive, development-first narrative in his speeches.
• He vowed to replace violence with education among minority youth, urging peaceful coexistence of Durga Puja and Muharram processions without communal clashes.
• Bhattacharya outlined a roadmap to rebuild the party’s booth-level structure and reengage cadres across urban and rural Bengal for the 2026 Assembly election.
• Ongoing factional tensions surfaced as former state chief Dilip Ghosh was excluded from events and Suvendu Adhikari maintained a more hardline Hindutva stance.
• The Trinamool Congress has seized on Bhattacharya’s comment that BJP could win without Muslim votes to accuse him of abandoning secular values.