BJP is sweating profusely in Bengal, what is Congress doing after being away from power for 48 years?

Often when there is discussion among political pundits, the organizational structure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its way of working is praised. It is said that even before one election is over, BJP starts preparing for the next election. Something similar is being seen before the 2026 assembly elections. West Bengal elections are to be held and senior BJP leader Amit Shah spent the last two days of 2025 in West Bengal. Meanwhile, preparations for the Congress being ousted from power in West Bengal in 1977 seem to be minimal. The Congress, which was dreaming of returning to power at the Centre, is almost doomed in West Bengal. Despite this, Congress’s preparations are in a very weak position compared to BJP.

The Congress, which was in power in West Bengal for a long time, has deteriorated in every election in the last 10 elections and is now close to zero. Despite the alliance with the Left in the 2021 assembly elections, Congress could not win even a single seat. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress was able to win only one Lok Sabha seat. That means, Congress’s representation in the Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha is moving towards zero.

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What is Congress doing in West Bengal?

Congress seems to be in a state of confusion in West Bengal. Sometimes under the India Alliance, the Congress Party tries to form an alliance with the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha elections and sometimes it contests against it. This has affected the local cadre and their morale is in tatters. In September 2024, Subhankar Sarkar was made the President of West Bengal Congress. He replaced Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, who has been a staunch critic of the Trinamool Congress.

Shubhankar government neither has any mass appeal nor is he counted among the leaders with mass base. However, due to his long stay in Congress, the state cadre definitely knows him. Shubhankar, who has played different roles in the organization, has not yet become an MLA or MP. It is said about Shubhankar that while Adhir Ranjan Choudhary was opposed to any kind of alliance with Trinamool Congress, Shubhankar was in favor of it.

What is the strategy of Bengal Congress?

Still, the strategy of West Bengal Congress seems to be to fight the opposition BJP instead of the ruling Trinamool Congress. Recently, when Amit Shah visited West Bengal, Congress workers led by West Bengal Congress President Subhankar Sarkar were seen protesting against him. A few days before that, when the West Bengal Congress delegation met Governor CV Anand Bose, there was mention of the incidents happening against Bengalis in BJP ruled states instead of Bengal. Leaving aside a few issues, the West Bengal Congress appears to be less attacking the Trinamool Congress and more attacking the BJP government at the Centre.

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A few days ago, the state unit has given a message to the central leadership of Congress that it wants to contest the elections alone in West Bengal. The state Congress is of the opinion that even if there is an alliance with the Left, the ratio should be 50-50 and not 2:1 ratio as before. That means elections are in a few months and Congress has still not been able to decide whether it wants to contest the elections alone or with the Left.

On the other hand, BJP, which has become the main opposition party due to its excellent performance in Bengal in 2021, has already intensified its campaign. After the spectacular success in Delhi and Bihar, BJP is targeting Bengal only. BJP leaders are not only going on the ground but are also presenting a challenge to Mamata Banerjee in a planned manner. The top leadership of the party is also continuously sending its leaders to West Bengal and preparations are being scrutinized from booth level to district level.

Congress is weakening in Bengal election after election

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party was able to win only one out of 42 seats in West Bengal and its veteran leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary lost even his seat. At that time Congress’s vote percentage was only 4.7 percent. In the 2021 assembly elections, Congress was not even left capable of fighting alone in the entire state. In the end, Congress formed an alliance with the same leftist parties which had once ousted Congress from power in West Bengal. However, its result was also not beneficial and Congress could not win even a single seat. BJP benefited tremendously from this and became the main opposition party. At the same time, Congress’s vote remained only 3 percent.

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The defeat of 2021 was very shameful for Congress because in 2016, Congress had won 44 MLAs and this was its best performance in the last 4 elections. In 2021, Congress came down from 44 to 0. This shows that in the last 4 decades in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and then BJP have completely destroyed the Congress and now it faces a big challenge.

Congress has been out of power for 48 years

The last Chief Minister of Congress in West Bengal was Siddharth Shankar Ray and his tenure was from 20 March 1972 to 30 April 1977. With the rise of the Left in Bengal, Congress started losing ground in West Bengal. There was Jyoti Basu’s government and the then Congress leader Mamata Banerjee wanted to fight the Marxist Communist Party by openly challenging it. However, Congress was still in a state of confusion. As a result, Mamata Banerjee left the Congress in 1997 and formed the Trinamool Congress on 1 January 1998.

From here the Congress got divided and all the supporters of Mamata Banerjee and those against the Left joined the Trinamool Congress. By forming a new party, Mamata Banerjee ousted the Left from West Bengal in just 14 years, but the hundreds of years old Congress missed the mark here too. After coming to power, Mamata Banerjee not only almost destroyed the Left but because of her, Congress also could not flourish in West Bengal.

Congress’s performance in Lok Sabha elections

Congress’s performance in assembly elections