Mamata Banerjee Invites CJP Leaders to Bengal as BJP Mocks Her Youth Outreach

The BJP has taken aim at former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee after she invited leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) to help organise young people against the state government led by Suvendu Adhikari. Banerjee has asked CJP figures, including Abhijeet Dipke, to start a fresh movement in the state, and the move has quickly become a political flashpoint in Kolkata.

BJP MP Rahul Sinha dismissed the approach as a sign of retreat. He argued that Banerjee had effectively accepted the chief minister's earlier suggestion that she step away from politics, and that she was now handing the fight to outside activists because her own party workers were no longer standing with her. The attack framed the invitation as an admission of weakness rather than a fresh strategy.

Banerjee responded by crediting the CJP for energising a generation that the older leadership had struggled to reach. She said she had met Dipke briefly in Delhi, extended the invitation then, and was told he would visit Bengal at the earliest opportunity. She also accused the current government of winning through electoral malpractice, which she described as 'vote chori', and said public anger was now too widespread to contain.

The political context matters. The BJP held a large rally in Kolkata under the slogan 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy), led by Suvendu Adhikari and BJP national president Nitin Nabin. It was pitched as a counter to a recent INDIA bloc protest over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a dispute that goes to the heart of who gets to vote and how credible the process is.

Opposition voices are not uniform on the tactic. Kalyan Banerjee, an MP from Mamata Banerjee's faction of the Trinamool Congress, publicly praised the CJP for what he called a turnaround in a game the opposition had been losing. He acknowledged that senior leaders had been outmuscled by the BJP's money and resources, and that younger activists had shown a better path. Separately, Ashutosh Ranka was already reported to be working with the Left leadership in Bengal, suggesting the opposition is spreading its bets across several channels.

For readers tracking Bengal politics, the story signals a shift in how the opposition wants to compete: through youth-led, non-party networks that can reach voters beyond established cadres. Whether Dipke's promised visit turns this into a durable campaign, or remains a headline-driven exchange, will be the next thing to watch.

Read the original report: BJP potshot at ex-CM Mamata for inviting CJP to West Bengal.

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