<p>New Delhi: The saffron surge in Bengal on Monday was not scripted in one day; a decade’s effort went into the BJP’s impressive tally in the state. Whether it is deploying its most effective leaders like Sunil Bansal and Bhupendra Yadav that had the experience of delivering key states, building the party’s structure till the booth level or a fight on narrative — the BJP had put its best foot forward in the border state. </p><p><br>Prominently, home minister Amit Shah deciding to stay in Bengal in the last fortnight before the polls played a crucial part for the party. Sources in the party said that, Shah had carried out over 30 rallies, and left Bengal only to vote in the local polls in Ahmedabad. </p><p>What also worked is that president Nitin Nabin, who was appointed recently, had been working in the state in the past, making organisational decisions faster and effective. </p>.West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Suvendu Adhikari: From Nandigram to Nabanna, the organiser who unseated his mentor.<p>Five years ago, in 2021, after it faced a defeat in West Bengal even after a stellar increase in tally and seat both, the BJP had realised that winning the border state is now a matter of time. Sources said that a few days after the defeat, where the party had increased its tally from 3 seats in 2016 to 77, and voteshare from 10% to 38%, an internal report was drawn up to assess its position in the state. </p><p>“The report showed an estimate in every seat, that over 10,000-12,000 votes were cast which should not have been in the voter rolls in the first place. These were votes of those that had either passed away or had left the state. The ground showed that there was a strong mood for change and yet, we did not win,” a senior leader of the party, working in Bengal, said. </p><p>The report set in motion a plan within the BJP. Bansal, a known organisational man, who had delivered in Varanasi in 2014 and then in Odisha 2024, was deployed to the state just a few months after the 2021 loss. Sources said that he had stayed in Bengal in the last few months in the run up to the polls to work on the party’s electoral effort. </p><p>Bhupendra Yadav, who was appointed the in-charge to the state, brought organisational heft to the state. Sources said that Yadav, who was appointed in-charge of the state in September, sat in the state since then. </p><p>“One of the key jobs that Bansal took up was that he worked on building the organisation in the state from the ground up,” the leader quoted above said. In 2021, the party had a presence in less that 30,000 booths of the state’s 80,000 booths. By the time the BJP headed to the polls this year, the party had a presence in at least 65,000 booths. </p><p>BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya, who has been carefully working on the party’s narrative largely in the last few years, was deeply involved in crafting the narrative in the state — whether it was the RG Kar incident, seen largely as a deflection point in Bengal politics, or the illegal immigrant issue. </p>
<p>New Delhi: The saffron surge in Bengal on Monday was not scripted in one day; a decade’s effort went into the BJP’s impressive tally in the state. Whether it is deploying its most effective leaders like Sunil Bansal and Bhupendra Yadav that had the experience of delivering key states, building the party’s structure till the booth level or a fight on narrative — the BJP had put its best foot forward in the border state. </p><p><br>Prominently, home minister Amit Shah deciding to stay in Bengal in the last fortnight before the polls played a crucial part for the party. Sources in the party said that, Shah had carried out over 30 rallies, and left Bengal only to vote in the local polls in Ahmedabad. </p><p>What also worked is that president Nitin Nabin, who was appointed recently, had been working in the state in the past, making organisational decisions faster and effective. </p>.West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Suvendu Adhikari: From Nandigram to Nabanna, the organiser who unseated his mentor.<p>Five years ago, in 2021, after it faced a defeat in West Bengal even after a stellar increase in tally and seat both, the BJP had realised that winning the border state is now a matter of time. Sources said that a few days after the defeat, where the party had increased its tally from 3 seats in 2016 to 77, and voteshare from 10% to 38%, an internal report was drawn up to assess its position in the state. </p><p>“The report showed an estimate in every seat, that over 10,000-12,000 votes were cast which should not have been in the voter rolls in the first place. These were votes of those that had either passed away or had left the state. The ground showed that there was a strong mood for change and yet, we did not win,” a senior leader of the party, working in Bengal, said. </p><p>The report set in motion a plan within the BJP. Bansal, a known organisational man, who had delivered in Varanasi in 2014 and then in Odisha 2024, was deployed to the state just a few months after the 2021 loss. Sources said that he had stayed in Bengal in the last few months in the run up to the polls to work on the party’s electoral effort. </p><p>Bhupendra Yadav, who was appointed the in-charge to the state, brought organisational heft to the state. Sources said that Yadav, who was appointed in-charge of the state in September, sat in the state since then. </p><p>“One of the key jobs that Bansal took up was that he worked on building the organisation in the state from the ground up,” the leader quoted above said. In 2021, the party had a presence in less that 30,000 booths of the state’s 80,000 booths. By the time the BJP headed to the polls this year, the party had a presence in at least 65,000 booths. </p><p>BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya, who has been carefully working on the party’s narrative largely in the last few years, was deeply involved in crafting the narrative in the state — whether it was the RG Kar incident, seen largely as a deflection point in Bengal politics, or the illegal immigrant issue. </p>