Ahead of assembly polls, BJP to launch 'Paribartan Yatra' across Bengal on Sunday

Kolkata, Mar 1 (PTI) The BJP will launch ‘Paribartan Yatra’ across West Bengal on Sunday in a bid to sharpen anti-incumbency against the TMC and test its grassroots machinery ahead of the assembly polls this year.

The programme will kick off a day after the publication of the revised electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.

During the SIR process, around 63.66 lakh names, nearly 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted from the state voter list since the exercise began in November last year, reducing the elector base to over 7.04 crore.

The 5,000-km outreach initiative is designed as both a mass-contact exercise and an organisational stress test aimed at converting booth-level groundwork into visible street mobilisation, a party leader said.

Nine yatras will originate from Cooch Behar, Krishnanagar, Kulti, Garbeta, Raidighi, Islampur, Hasan, Sandeshkhali and Amta, traversing every assembly constituency before culminating in a Brigade Parade Ground rally here, expected to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.

During the ‘Paribartan Yatra’, the BJP planned to directly reach out to 1-1.5 crore people across 294 assembly constituencies, he said.

"This will be a game changer for the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls,” the senior state BJP leader said.

West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya described the yatra as “the next phase of democratic correction in Bengal”.

“After 34 years of the Left rule, people voted for change. Fifteen years later, there is a demand for another change. The ‘Paribartan Yatra’ is about reconnecting with that sentiment,” he said.

BJP's central leaders, including party president Nitin Nabin, JP Nadda and Rajnath Singh, are expected to join the yatra.

After winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and emerging as the principal challenger to Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, the BJP mounted an aggressive 2021 assembly campaign. Despite high-decibel rallies and sustained central leaders' presence, it failed to dislodge the TMC government. PTI PNT BDC