Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has hit the road with his high-stakes "Abar Jitbe Bangla" yatra, a month-long campaign tour kicking off amid escalating clashes with the Election Commission over voter roll revisions. Launched yesterday in South 24 Parganas' Baruipur, the yatra aims to rally TMC supporters ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, spotlighting government achievements and countering opposition narratives.

Banerjee wasted no time in making headlines, staging a theatrical "ramp walk" alongside three locals—Manirul Mollah, Maya Das, and Harekrishna Giri—officially marked as "deceased" in the EC's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. "Ever seen the dead walking the ramp?" he quipped to cheering crowds, accusing the poll body and BJP of deliberately purging TMC voters from lists ahead of the polls. The event underscored TMC's grievances after Banerjee's recent Delhi meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, where he alleged the EC summoned 1.36 crore voters and deleted genuine names from strongholds.

Spanning all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, the yatra builds on Banerjee's successful 2023 "Nabo Joar" tour, which fueled TMC's panchayat poll dominance and 29 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha battle—reducing BJP to 12. Party sources say it doubles as a talent scout, collecting district-level feedback to finalize MLA tickets for the March-April polls. Banerjee framed it as Bengal's fight for dignity, linking Mamata Banerjee's welfare schemes—like Lakshmir Bhandar and student stipends—to resistance against "Delhi's interference."

Congress veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury dismissed the yatra as a "misleading stunt" to distract from governance failures, while BJP leaders branded it desperate theatrics. Yet with Banerjee as Mamata's nephew and parliamentary floor leader, the tour solidifies his grooming as TMC's next big leader, blending youth appeal with regional pride. As crowds swell and controversies brew, this bold gambit could either cement TMC's poll edge or expose vulnerabilities in a fiercely contested state.