TMC's Abhishek Banerjee launches party's 'connect and dialogue' mass outreach plan ahead of 2026 West Bengal polls

Kolkata: Emphasising the need for last-mile outreach ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday launched a month-long 'connect and dialogue' programme with around 1,800 'influencers' in the state identified by the party, a TMC leader said.

Titled ‘Banglar Samarthaney Sanjog, Banglar Unnayaner Sanlap’ (Connect for support and development dialogue for Bengal), the programme spanning over the next month would entail 38 teams comprising party leaders of different levels who would reach out to these 'influencers' with a kit containing recently-published Mamata Banerjee government's performance report card for the last 15 years, a personal letter from the chief minister and a memento, a party source said.

Banerjee conveyed the decisions at a virtual meeting attended by nearly 15,000 TMC leaders and workers, where he also announced appointing district-level coordinators of the party to oversee and monitor the public relations exercise.

"In keeping with this record of TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY, our Maa-Mati-Manush Sarkaar has released a comprehensive Report Card and a Unnayoner Panchali, presenting clear evidence of progress across key sectors and demonstrating how everyday lives have tangibly improved.

"To ensure these facts reach every corner of the state, I convened a virtual conference with elected representatives and leaders of the Trinamool Congress across all tiers of governance," Banerjee later posted on his social media handles.

He went on to allege that the reason behind the TMC's campaign was to counter the "misrepresentation of Bengal" made by the saffron camp in the public psyche.

"Today, Bengal's progress continues to be met with relentless hostility from BANGLA-BIRODHI BJP. From attempts to malign our record, mislabel our language, and brand our people as outsiders, to the misuse of money, muscle, and central agencies, amplified by misinformation from a pliant section of the media, every tactic has been deployed to weaken the idea of an inclusive, self-respecting Bengal," Banerjee alleged.

"That is precisely why our response must be rooted in TRUTH, UNITY, and COLLECTIVE RESOLVE. Every dialogue we hold, every citizen we stand with, and every story we carry forward strengthens Bengal's rightful place in India's development story," he added.

Stressing the need to simultaneously focus on the ongoing verification phase of SIR, Banerjee announced reaching out to party appointed booth-level agent-2 (BLA2) by sending them felicitation 'Uttariya', a party printed notebook and calendar from his own behalf.

"This is nothing less than a war. The opposition will attack us if we show even a minute of complacency," the source quoted Banerjee to have said at the meeting.

Setting the theme for the 2026 elections, Banerjee coined two slogans which will be popularised by the TMC.

"Manbe na Haar, Trinamool Aabar' (We don't give up, another term for the Trinamool), Banerjee said, would be the party's central slogan.

As counter to the slogan voiced by PM Narendra Modi at the BJP's public meeting in Nadia earlier this month, Banchte Chai, BJP Tai (Need to live, hence BJP), Banerjee said his party would instead chant 'Banchte Chai, BJP Bye' (Need to live, BJP goodbye).