A woman leader of Cooch Behar BJP who participated in a saffron protest rally in the town on Monday walked up to the district Trinamul office soon after the event and joined Mamata Banerjee’s party.

The sudden political U-turn by Jaba Debnath, who was the president of the BJP’s women’s wing in Andaran Fulbari-II in Tufanganj-I block, left the BJP leaders perplexed.

“She walked in the rally we had organised on Monday in protest of the violence in Murshidabad, shouted slogans in the demonstration in front of the district magistrate’s office till afternoon,” said Subhasish Choudhury, a BJP leader of Tufanganj. “We are surprised to see that she did a switchover so fast. We suspect that after our programme, TMC leaders picked her up and forced her to join the party,” he added.

Sources said that on Monday morning Jaba finished her daily chores and boarded a bus with other BJP leaders and supporters to reach Cooch Behar.

Around noon, they reached the district BJP office in Cooch Behar. Jaba, along with others, joined the march that headed for the DM’s office located on the bank of Sagardighi in the heart of the town around 1.30pm.

They marched in front of the DM’s office, demonstrated there and shouted slogans. Police personnel guarded the spot. Around 4pm, protesters started dispersing from
the area.

“Even after our demonstration ended, I spoke to her and she said that she would take the bus with us to return home. Soon afterwards, we learnt that she had landed in the district Trinamool office,” Choudhury said.

Some other leaders said Jaba had regularly raised her voice against Trinamool.

“She has faced the TMC’s atrocities for actively working for the BJP, especially after the 2021 Assembly elections. Her house was ransacked, and she was forced to stay in her relative’s place in the neighbouring Alipurduar district for some time. Surprisingly, she chose to join the same party,” said a BJP functionary.

Jaba’s inclusion also left local TMC leaders uncomfortable.

After receiving the TMC’s flag from district leaders, as Jaba was questioned about her decision to desert the BJP and join the TMC, she said: “As I was with the BJP, the TMC had ransacked my house. I had to face certain other problems. Now that I have joined TMC, I hope I will not have to face such problems.”

Her reply left TMC leaders uneasy.

Avijit De Bhowmik, the district TMC president, in damage-control mode, claimed that Jaba meant a section of BJP workers had tortured her in the name of the TMC.

Soon after, Jaba changed her tone.

“After the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP does not have any organisational base in our area. The leaders don’t see how common workers like us spend our days. That is why I joined the TMC,” said Jaba, who votes in the Natabari Assembly seat that the BJP had won in 2021.

Jaba was made a vice-president of Trinamool Mahila Congress in Tufanganj-I block.