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PM Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to visit West Bengal ahead of 2026 Assembly polls

KOLKATA: Ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, Prime Minister PM Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are likely to attend separate programmes to kick off election campaigns for BJP in the state. The Bengal BJP unit has already approached the state administration seeking clearance for a rally in Arambag of Hooghly district on 13 or 14 December. The Bengal leadership of the saffron camp held a meeting in Kolkata last week where the PMs visit to the state to attend the proposed election rally in Arambag was discussed. Besides the PM, heavyweights like Amit Shah, JP Nadda and others may also be called to address several rallies of the party in the state during December and January, according to the insiders of the party. Requesting anonymity, insiders said, The date of the Arambag programme will be finalised soon after the PMO clears their proposal. The union home minister Amit Shah is also expected to attend a programme in Kolkata in end-December. It will be a mega beginning for our party workers ahead of polls if leaders like Modiji and Amitji attend first two or three rallies separately in a row. In order to consolidate Hindu votes in poll-bound Bengal with 70 percent Hindu vote banks, RSS has outlined its plans at the backdrop against its ongoing centenary celebration programmes across the country. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat likely to visit the state for around six days from 18 December, hardly four days after Modi attends the Arambag rally. Bhagwat may attend programmes in Siliguri in northern part of the state, on 18 and 19 December. He is also expected to interact with intelligentsia in Kolkata at Science City auditorium on either 20 or 21 December. He has already attended such programmes meeting the intellectual community in Delhi and Mumbai. Besides Bhagwats visit, three Hindu organisations will also organise Panch Lokkho konthe Geeta Path event at the historic Brigade Parade Ground on December 7 where five lakh people will chant verses from the Bhagavada Gita. The same programme organised by the Hindu organisations was also held at the same venue in 2023. Sources said that the RSS would be there behind programme though it is organised by the Hindu bodies in papers. Observers felt that the main agenda of these events starting from RSS chiefs Bengal visits and Panch Lokkho konthe Geeta Path is to woo Hindu voters in favour of the BJP in the forthcoming elections in the state. The BJP had around 39 percent vote share in previous elections, while the ruling Trinamool Congress had retained around 46 percent. BJP plans to increases its vote percentage by a maximum of 6-7% , relying heavily on the Hindu vote bank amidst the ongoing Special intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The BJP leadership claims that there will be a huge deletion of around one crore dead and bogus voters in the list leading a electoral loss for the ruling party in the state.