With West Bengal scheduled to witness Assembly polls next year, the games being played are literally on field with the Trinamool Congress organising the Swami Vivekananda Cup and the BJP holding the Narendra Cup.
Both the tournaments began on Thursday. Football, which is one of West Bengal's favourite sports, is being used as an outreach campaign tool ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections by the parties.
On Thursday, West Bengal BJP state president Shamik Bhattacharya inaugurated the "Narendra Cup" in Howrah. He told reporters, "I won't say anything in the light of politics today as it is the anniversary of Swami Vivekananda's Chicago address. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, this football tournament is being organized to observe the day. It is a historical day. The man who represented India internationaally. This cup is being organised to respect the man."
BJP leader and Purulia MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato is the convener of the committee formed for this competition. He said at a press conference on Wednesday that this is the first time that such a tournament is going to be held. He said that there will be a total of 43 football tournaments and 1,300 football teams will participate in this competition. The winning team will be awarded Rs 50,000. Apart from this, the runners-up will get Rs 25,000 and the semi-finalists will get Rs 15,000 each. The theme song of this game was also launched on this day.
The Narendra Cup football matches will be organised from September 11-17. September 17 is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday.
It is believed that the BJP has taken this initiative to unite the younger generation ahead of the elections.
TMC leader and state sports Minister Arup Biswas said that 23 districts of the state will participate in the competition, and eight teams from each district will play. First, there will be a district-based competition. From there, the best two teams from each district will play at the inter-district level. The competition will continue until March 2026. There will be a total of 390 matches.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh criticised BJP. He said, "Our tournament is associated to Swami Vivekananda and their (BJP) cup is associated to Naren Gosai (Narendranath Goswami had turned approver and had posed a major threat to divulge all secrets pertaining to the revolutionary activities), who was the man who betrayed India and supported the British during Independence."
