India, July 26 -- Opposition parties seek political relevance by joining student protests amid West Bengal's shifting political landscape.

As the CJP-led student protests in Delhi continued to draw national attention, a scramble ensued closer to home in West Bengal, where political parties still reeling from their recent electoral drubbing appeared determined to hitch their fortunes to the movement's momentum. For Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, barely 10 weeks into office, the resulting street mobilisation emerged as the sternest test of his young administration.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, whose party suffered a bruising defeat in the last election cycle and has since disintegrated into three parts, swiftly threw her we...