The BJP is revving up for a no-holds-barred battle to win Bengal, hoping that victory in the state would shatter the Opposition’s morale and help the party neutralise the farmers’ movement, insiders said.

Many in the party believe that triumph in Bengal, an ideologically crucial state for the BJP, will be as important as the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

The BJP has already unleashed a campaign blitzkrieg and is set to scale it up to an unprecedented level now that the poll dates have been announced.

“Party leaders from top to bottom, drawn from across states, have been asked to hurl themselves into Bengal,” a BJP general secretary said.

“We are determined to win,” he added.

BJP leaders are happy polling will be held in eight phases spread over a month as that will allow them to virtually carpet-bomb the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies.

The BJP is not projecting a chief ministerial face and Modi would be used as the principal vote-catcher.

The party has always used electoral victories to blunt the Opposition’s attack on issues and BJP leaders are sure success in Bengal would stun their rivals into silence.

“Recall how the hue and cry over the Rafale (fighter jet) deal fizzled out after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” another BJP leader said.

The farmers’ protest has emerged as a big political challenge for the government and the BJP fears it could harm their future electoral prospects, particularly in north India, if it continues.

“Thankfully, the farmers’ protest has hardly had any impact in Bengal,” a BJP leader said. On the contrary, the denial of the cash dole under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to the state’s farmers was working in the party’s favour, the leader said.

Although five states are slated for polls, Bengal holds a special ideological significance, being the home state of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, one of the founders of the Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP.

The BJP had never been a significant force in the state but it stunned everyone when it bagged 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Exhilarated by the performance, the party now wants to conquer the state.

“Victory in Bengal will be no less than the construction of a Ram temple or the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir,” a BJP leader said, recalling Mookerjee’s struggle against the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP’s internal surveys have shown that though the party was still behind the ruling Trinamul Congress, the gap was thin, BJP sources said.

“We are sure that our mighty election machinery will bridge the gap and we will surge ahead by the time the votes are cast,” a general secretary micromanaging the ground campaign said.

The general secretary said Union home minister Amit Shah was masterminding the Bengal poll strategy. “These days Amitbhai is totally focussed on Bengal. He tells us that we have to win Bengal,” he said.

BJP managers said that apart from dealing a blow to the Opposition’s campaign against the farm laws, a win in Bengal would also prepare the ground for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.