For three elections in five years, the BJP’s saffron flag has kept flying high in the state primarily by the voters in north Bengal. The BJP state president and junior Union minister Dr Sukanta Majumdar’s somewhat ambiguous call on Tuesday to “incorporate” the region with the Northeast could turn into the proverbial albatross as the state Assembly polls – due two years from now – draw nearer.

Of the 12 Lok Sabha seats that the BJP won from Bengal this year, six were from the districts in north Bengal.

“I met the PM and submitted a proposal to incorporate North Bengal with the Northeast. It’s up to the PM now to decide on this. But if North Bengal is incorporated with the Northeast, the region will benefit from the central government schemes,” Majumdar said on Wednesday evening, which led to a barrage of protest from Bengal’s ruling Trinamul and even a section of the BJP in the state.

Majumdar had also shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), which promised 1,980 projects worth Rs. 23,240.78 crore to the seven sisters and Sikkim in the current fiscal for road, rail and waterways projects.

Majumdar later clarified that he did not call for a division of the state. “If north Bengal, while remaining a part of West Bengal, could be included in the Northeast under DoNER, the region would receive more finds for development projects,” Majumdar said, adding the state government should not have any problem with the proposal.

Jharkhand BJP MP says 'cut up' Bengal

A party colleague of Majumdar's from Jharkhand went ahead a notch.

On Thursday in the floor of the Lok Sabha, BJP MP from Godda Nishikant Dubey demanded a Union Territory be carved out of Malda and Murshidabad in Bengal and Kishangunj, Araria and Katihar in Bihar.

“Kishangunj, Araria, Katihar, Malda and Murshidabad should be made a union territory, otherwise Hindus will disappear, and implement NRC [National Register of Citizens]. If nothing else, send a committee of the House there and implement the report of the Law Commission from 2010 that permission is essential for conversion and marriage,” Dubey said.

He claimed infiltrators from Bangladesh were marrying tribal women and reducing the tribal population in Jharkhand. He also claimed that settlers from Malda and Murshidabad had emptied Hindu villages in parts of Jharkhand, his home state.

Sukanta Majumdar's demand pulled out an old rabbit from the hat. John Barla, the former Alipurduar MP from the BJP, had made a demand for a separate state in 2021, from which the party had officially distanced itself.

“The creation of a separate state of North Bengal is the demand of the people of this region,” Barla had said, assuring he would take it at the appropriate level.

The current BJP state president – elected from north Bengal’s Balurghat -- has picked up the same thread, though the party itself appeared to be divided on the issue.

“There is nothing wrong in what Sukanta has said,” said a senior Bengal BJP leader who requested anonymity. “The voters of north Bengal have always rejected the Trinamul and they have voted in our favour. He is bringing to light the people’s aspiration at the highest level.

“Truth is,” the BJP leader added, “people of south Bengal don’t care for the people of north Bengal and vice versa.”

Bengal’s leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has kept his distance from the issue.

Bishnu Prasad Sharma, the rebel Kurseong MLA from the BJP who went against the party line and contested the Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully from Darjeeling, accused his party president of trying to fool the people of north Bengal before the next round of Assembly polls.

“Keeping the 2026 Assembly polls in mind, he is trying to fool the people. The demand is unrealistic,” said Sharma. “Unlike Sikkim, Bengal does not have the special law to be included in the North East Council. A part of the state cannot be included in the council.”

Sharma said if Majumdar was serious about his proposal he should ensure the north Bengal districts are segregated from Bengal. “He is scared the party will lose the grip before the Assembly polls,” Sharma declared.

To compound the BJP’s woes, Rajya Sabha member from Cooch Behar Anant Maharaj has raised the bogey of a separate state of Cooch Behar, 15 years after a violent movement had rocked the former princely town.

Another BJP Rajya Sabha member, Shamik Bhattacharya, was quick to say that the BJP was not in favour of any division of Bengal.

“It is possible to ensure the development of Bengal within the confines of the existing boundaries. We are not in favour of dividing the state. The Trinamul is trying to foment trouble,” Bhattacharya said.

The Trinamul has already sniffed opportunity in the developments.

Udayan Guha, the state’s minister for the development of north Bengal, said election or no election Trinamul will resist any such attempt.

“Elections are far away. This is an attempt to disturb our peaceful state. We protest against it and if required we will resist it,” Guha said.