Sumitra Chattopadhyay, a fifth-generation descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the writer of India’s national song, Vande Mataram, and a renowned Bengali poet, has recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal. He officially became a BJP member at the party’s state headquarters in Kolkata, in the presence of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav and State BJP President Samik Bhattacharya. Chattopadhyay, a former bureaucrat from the West Bengal Labour department, brings a mix of administrative experience and family legacy to the BJP.
After his induction into the BJP, Sumitra Chattopadhyay criticized the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government’s employment policies. He highlighted how the state government replaced the data on unemployed youths with a vague employment bank system, despite registering 40 lakh names. This move has been seen as a strategic move by the BJP to counter the Trinamool Congress in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections later this year.
Political analysts note that Chattopadhyay’s firsthand account of administrative issues adds weight to the BJP’s narrative against the current state government. Union Minister Bhupender Yadav emphasized the significance of having a member of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s family in the BJP, citing the emotional and patriotic connection with the writer of ‘Vande Mataram.’ State BJP President Samik Bhattacharya hailed Chattopadhyay’s entry into the party as a positive development in West Bengal’s political landscape.
