By Jayanta Ghosal
As the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election approaches, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted a strongly aggressive campaign posture, –
His speeches and rallies indicate that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sees the region as a crucial battleground. Addressing rallies and public meetings, the Prime Minister has repeatedly launched sharp attacks on the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the state.
Without directly naming Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Prime Minister used the phrase “Neer Mamata ki sarkar,” a reference meant to criticize the current administration. His speeches have been highly combative, resembling a political bombardment aimed at the ruling party.
On Sunday, April 5, while addressing an election rally in Cooch Behar, Modi intensified his criticism of the TMC government and asserted that it would be held accountable for its “sins” after the poll results are declared on May 4. He also promised that if the BJP comes to power, it would ensure development and take strong action against infiltrators.
During the rally, the Prime Minister declared, “Now every single action will be accounted for. Each and every deed will be counted one by one. Whatever Mamata Banerjee has done will have to be paid for.” Addressing the large gathering in Cooch Behar, he added that the massive turnout itself showed that “TMC’s time is up.” This phrase—”TMC’s time is up”—has effectively become the central slogan of his campaign.
The Prime Minister also expressed strong support for the Election Commission, asserting that, for the first time in West Bengal, the election will be genuinely free and fair following the implementation of SIR. He highlighted several welfare initiatives of the central government, particularly those aimed at women. According to him, the BJP government at the Centre has extended various basic facilities to women across the country and has assisted three crore women in becoming “Lakhpati Didis.” He emphasized the importance of women having a greater role
Another major issue raised repeatedly in his speech was corruption and the alleged system of “cut money.” Modi framed the election as a stark choice for voters. He said the TMC is corrupt and has a cut-money culture, while the BJP promises development. He also argued that the state faces the threat of infiltration, while the BJP represents the force that can stop it.
It is clear from the tone and content of his speeches that the Prime Minister is attempting to create strong momentum for the BJP through an aggressive campaign strategy.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been mounting a counter-campaign. She has alleged that the BJP is bringing in paid supporters from other states to influence the upcoming Assembly election. Banerjee has also warned about the possibility of tampering with electronic voting machines (EVMs), raising concerns well in advance of polling.
Referring to Amit Shah’s rally in Bhabanipur, Banerjee accused the BJP of not only bringing voters from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but also transporting large crowds of paid supporters from those states. According to her, the BJP is also attempting to import the worst elements of their political culture into Bengal, along with these crowds.
Essentially, Mamata Banerjee is countering the BJP’s campaign by portraying it as a form of cultural invasion into Bengal.
At the same time, one of the most notable features of the BJP’s election strategy this time is that the party is not relying solely on the slogan “Jai Shri Ram.” While the Hindutva narrative remains present in the background, the BJP has realized that slogans alone will not be sufficient to secure electoral success in Bengal.
Demographically, Hindus make up roughly seventy percent of the population, and the BJP’s strategy appears to focus on consolidating a large portion of that vote, possibly around fifty percent of the seventy percent Hindu electorate. However, the party recognizes that it cannot solely rely on religious slogans to mobilize Bengali Hindu voters. Unlike certain other regions of India, Bengali Hindus tend to be less hyper-anti-minority in their political outlook.
Therefore, the BJP’s strategy now combines limited polarization where necessary with a broader narrative centered on development, governance failures, anti-incumbency, and economic progress. The BJP promotes the message that if it comes to power, West Bengal will experience a return to peace, development, and industrialization.
The BJP also frequently invokes the argument that industrialization in West Bengal collapsed after the later years of the CPM era. After 1977, the state allegedly witnessed a period that critics describe as “lawlessness” or “jungle raj.” When the Prime Minister repeatedly uses the phrase “jungle raj like Bihar,” he is referring to a climate characterized by terror, mafia influence, criminal gangs, lumpen elements, and corruption in sectors like education. According to this narrative, these conditions forced many people to leave West Bengal, leading to the loss of its earlier economic glory.
The BJP’s message emphasizes the need to restore this lost glory. At the same time, the party attempts to frame the issue without directly attacking minorities. Instead, the Prime Minister argues that appeasement politics and vote-bank politics have ultimately damaged development in the state.
Another controversy has emerged over the terminology used in political manifestos. The Prime Minister pointed out that the Trinamool Congress uses the word “Ishtahar” instead of the Sanskrit-derived “Sankalp Patra” for its manifesto. Historically, even the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had used the term “Ishtahar.” Critics argue that the word has roots in a linguistic tradition associated with Muslim political discourse, while supporters insist that it has long been part of the Bengali political vocabulary.
The TMC strongly counters this argument by emphasizing that Bengali culture is inherently composite and inclusive. According to Mamata Banerjee’s camp, Bengali Hindus do not reject such words because the Bengali language itself has evolved through the blending of multiple traditions, including Urdu, Arabic, and Persian influences. That cultural synthesis is seen as an essential part of Bengali identity.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s broader narrative seeks to assert that the authentic identity of Bengal is being eroded under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership. The party invokes historical figures such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Syama Prasad Mookerjee, arguing that the legacy of a certain strand of Hindu nationalism connected with Bengal must be revived. In ideological terms, this narrative aligns more closely with the Hindu political traditions associated with leaders like Sardar Patel and Dr. Rajendra Prasad, rather than the more secular interpretation of nationalism associated with Jawaharlal Nehru.
Mamata Banerjee counters this narrative by pointing out that Bengal’s cultural tradition has always embraced syncretism. Writers such as Kazi Nazrul Islam and Syed Mujtaba Ali incorporated numerous Urdu, Arabic, and Persian words into Bengali literature that later became naturalized in the everyday Bengali language. If the word “Ishtahar” is questioned, Banerjee argues, then by the same logic even words like “table,” which come from English would have to be rejected, an idea she considers absurd.
The BJP, however, continues to emphasize its core campaign themes of peace, development, and governance. Symbolically, the party highlights places like Naxalbari, the region where the historic Naxalite movement began under Charu Majumdar and which was once associated with violent revolutionary politics. Today, that same Naxalbari constituency is under the control of the BJP, with a BJP MLA representing the area. The party presents this as evidence that it is expanding its influence even in regions that were once strongholds of radical left politics.
