Last Updated:November 11, 2025, 06:10 IST Party insiders noted that Banerjee’s high-profile intervention in what was a small, block-level event was deliberate and strategic While the BJP’s central leadership and several state leaders have publicly opposed legalising same-sex unions, Banerjee made it clear that his party rejected ‘such rigidity’. File pic In a rare and strategically significant political gesture, Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee publicly celebrated a same-sex marriage in the deeply conservative region of West Bengal’s Sundarbans, using the moment to draw a sharp contrast between his party’s inclusive philosophy and the opposition’s perceived rigidity on social issues. On Monday, the TMC national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP phoned and congratulated Riya Sardar (21) and Rakhi Naskar (20) during a local felicitation ceremony organised by the party. The young women, both professional dancers, had bravely tied the knot at the Paler Chak temple in Jalaberia, Kultali block, on November 4, defying traditional norms with the backing of hundreds of local villagers. Banerjee, speaking to the gathering via a loudspeaker, described the wedding, …