Leaders of the BJP in north Bengal have decided to recast their focus on the tea belt of the region to ensure that the majority of the tea population stands by them again at the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In 2019, the BJP managed to secure the support of most of the tea workers and their families, both in the hills and plains, which paved the way for the party to win the parliamentary seats of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

The results of these three Lok Sabha seats depend on the backing of the tea population.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, despite the Trinamul sweep in most parts of Bengal, the BJP managed to win most of the seats with tea gardens, barring Malbazar and Chopra. Altogether, there are around 14 Assembly constituencies in the brew belt.

However, the results of the July 2023 rural polls and September 5 Dhupguri bypoll got the BJP worried.

“The saffron party had to face a setback at the panchayat elections held in July this year. Trinamul bagged most seats in all three tiers of the polls, while the BJP could win only in some pockets. This seems to have nudged the BJP and its leaders are planning to put fresh impetus in tea estates to ensure that people vote for them in the coming Lok Sabha elections,” said a political observer.

In Jalpaiguri's Dhupguri bypoll, a seat won by the BJP in 2021, went to Trinamul.

According to insiders, the BJP will intensify its activities in tea estates and flag certain issues related to the sector, while also sending teams to worker homes for one-on-one interactions.

“Since 2019, tea workers and their families have stood with us. We will approach them to know if they are aggrieved with us. Our team members will try to know their expectations from us. Once the exercise is done, review meetings would be held to draw up plans to address their grievances,” said Manoj Tigga, the BJP MLA of Madarihat and party’s chief whip in the Assembly.

Ahead of the panchayat elections, Trinamul played the development card to draw tea belt votes, and alleged the BJP-led Centre and the BJP MLAs and MPs from this region had done nothing for the tea population, unlike the state government with its array of social welfare schemes.

“The strategy worked as people voted Trinamul in large numbers. Even in Dhupguri, Trinamul managed to win. This left BJP worried over its prospects in three (of eight) parliamentary seats of north Bengal,” the observer added.

On Tuesday, BJP leaders, including Alipurduar MP and the Union minister of state for minority affairs John Barla and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, met in Siliguri to discuss a public meeting for tea workers next month.

“Earlier, we wanted to hold the meeting in Alipurduar on September 24, but it had to be postponed because of Karam Puja (a tribal festival scheduled on September 25). It was decided today (Tuesday) that the meeting will be held in Dagapur (on the outskirts of Siliguri) on October 1,” said Aritra Chatterjee, the convener of the BJP’s trade union cell, adding they intended to bring around 20,000 BJP workers from districts.

He said they would demand the state government fix the minimum tea wage rate at the earliest.

“We also want proper representation of MPs and MLAs from the tea belt in the Tea Advisory Council,” he added.