Kolkata, Nov 2 : BJP national president Nitin Nabin will arrive in Kolkata on Monday to lead the party's 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' (Save Democracy, Eliminate Anarchy) rally against protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The rally will begin at College Street and conclude at Esplanade in central Kolkata, marking the beginning of an extended BJP campaign across West Bengal against the opposition's protests over the electoral roll revision exercise.
Nabin is scheduled to arrive at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport from Patna shortly after 2 pm and proceed directly to College Street to lead the march. It was not immediately clear whether he would address party workers and supporters at the concluding gathering.
The BJP has accused the opposition parties of creating confusion over the SIR exercise. The protests have been spearheaded by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and supported by the Congress-led INDIA bloc and other opposition parties.
State BJP vice-president Prabal Raha said similar rallies would be organised in Howrah, adjoining Kolkata, and Siliguri in Darjeeling district on November 3.
The second phase of the campaign is scheduled to begin on November 11, after Kali Puja and Diwali. The party plans to organise marches at 800 locations across the state, each involving at least 10,000 participants, Raha said.
The BJP also intends to involve national-level leaders and supporters from different parts of the country in the campaign across urban centres in Bengal.
After the Kolkata rally, Nabin is expected to hold a meeting with state BJP leaders to review preparations for elections to seven urban local bodies, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC).
A state BJP committee member said the discussions would focus on the party's strategy for the civic polls, particularly candidate selection. The leadership may also consider preparing preliminary lists of probable candidates for the KMC and HMC elections.
The elections to the seven municipal bodies are likely to be held in the third or fourth week of December, according to the schedule under discussion. The results are expected in the last week of December or the first week of January 2027.
Nabin is likely to leave for Delhi either on Monday night or Tuesday morning.
The BJP's anti-SIR campaign and preparations for the civic elections are expected to run simultaneously, putting the state leadership on two parallel organisational tracks in the coming weeks.
