Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2023, on Sunday (April 12, 2026) joined the Trinamool Congress. Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, Mr. Bose said his earlier decision to join the BJP was a “historic mistake.”
“A few years ago I had made a historic mistake by being a part of the BJP. I rectified that mistake by joining the TMC, because with Bengal’s history, tradition and culture, there are no similarities with the BJP,” Mr. Chandra Bose said.
In the recent months, Mr. Chandra Bose had been critical of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal.
He said the BJP did not believe in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s principles and it was not possible to work with Netaji’s vision because the BJP did not allow him. “What we are seeing today is communal hatred, division led by the BJP. This time, there is a fight to save India and stop this divisive politics. The time has come,” Mr. Chandra Bose said.
Mr. Chandra Bose joined the TMC in the presence of senior leaders such as Bratya Basu and Kirti Azad.
His induction into the TMC comes at a crucial time just days ahead of the high-stakes Assembly polls in West Bengal on April 23 and 29.
State Education Minister Mr. Bratya Basu said, “In the BJP’s language, this is ghar wapsi. A secular person has returned to a secular place.”
Mr. Chandra Bose had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election on BJP ticket from Rashbehari. He had joined the BJP in 2016 and parted ways with it in 2023 over “ideological differences.” Since then, on multiple occasions, he had been vocal about his disagreements with the BJP ideologies.
After the publication of voter list in Bengal, Mr. Chandra Bose, on his social media handle, asked why the civil society of the State was not protesting against the 90 lakh deleted voters. He also questioned the role of the Election Commission and accused it of failing to stay “free and fair” ahead of the elections.
Earlier, the late Krishna Bose and her son and historian Sugata Bose had represented the TMC in Parliament. Both of them are members of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose family.
