Amit Shah targets TMC’s ‘fortress’ as Parivartan Yatra to begin from Raidighi

In a major political move ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will launch its ‘Parivartan Yatra’ from Raidighi in South 24 Parganas on March 1, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah set to formally flag off the campaign. The choice of venue is being seen as a strategic attempt to make inroads into a district long considered a stronghold of the All India Trinamool Congress.

South 24 Parganas has been a bastion of Mamata Banerjee’s party since the 2008 panchayat elections, and in the last Assembly polls, the ruling party secured 30 of the 31 seats in the district. The area also falls under the parliamentary constituency of Abhishek Banerjee, adding further political significance to the BJP’s decision. Alongside Raidighi, similar yatras will begin from Cooch Behar Dakshin, Krishnanagar Dakshin, Kulti and Garbeta on March 1, with four more centres joining the campaign the next day.

Party insiders describe the move as a calculated political message aimed at challenging what they term Trinamool’s “fortress.” Notably, the BJP currently has no elected representative from the district, making the launch symbolically significant as it seeks to expand its footprint in southern Bengal.

The Parivartan Yatra will span nearly 5,000 kilometres across nine organisational regions of the state, excluding Kolkata metropolis. Senior leaders including J. P. Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Dharmendra Pradhan are expected to participate in various legs of the march.

The campaign is scheduled to culminate in a massive rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Political observers note that while the BJP has consolidated its presence in North Bengal and parts of western districts, the real test of its aggressive strategy will lie in how effectively it can dent Trinamool’s dominance in South 24 Parganas.