Bengal Vice: Congress crushed between Mamata and BJP

After its sweeping Bihar victory, the BJP has made its intent clear: West Bengal is the next big political battleground. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s river Ganga remark underlined the party’s confidence and expanding ambitions beyond the Hindi heartland.

Congress’s poor showing in Bihar has reignited doubts about its national relevance. In Bengal, where it is squeezed between a dominant TMC and an ascendant BJP, the party faces a far sharper existential challenge ahead of 2026.

In 2011, Congress was a meaningful ally in Mamata Banerjee’s rise, winning 42 seats and holding sway in Malda and Murshidabad. That influence steadily eroded over the next decade, exposing organisational decline and voter drift.

The 2021 Assembly election marked Congress’s lowest point in Bengal. Contesting 92 seats, it failed to win even one, slipped to a 3% vote share, and lost former strongholds as TMC and BJP absorbed the contest.

From just three seats in 2016 to 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and 77 Assembly seats in 2021, the BJP’s growth has been dramatic. It now occupies the principal opposition space once eyed by Congress.

Mamata Banerjee has consistently refused to share political space in Bengal. Declaring the INDIA bloc irrelevant to the state, she chose to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls alone and has ruled out any alliance with Congress in 2026.

Areas like English Bazar, Sujapur, Chanchal and Beldanga were once Congress strongholds with active booth networks. By 2021, these regions slipped away almost overnight, leaving the party without a territorial anchor in Bengal.

With no clear leader, shrinking organisation and no alliance prospects, Congress enters 2026 facing a stark reality. The central question may no longer be who it fights—but whether it still has enough ground left to fight at all.