Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah on Tuesday set a sharp political agenda for the party’s campaign in West Bengal, declaring that a BJP government in the state would identify and expel “infiltrators” and construct a “national grid” to stop illegal immigration.
Addressing a press conference during his three-day visit to the poll-bound state, Shah outlined a twin promise of cultural revival and stringent security, while launching a blistering attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.
“BJP wants to assure and promise to the citizens of West Bengal that as soon as the BJP government is formed in the state, we will revive Bengal's heritage and the river of development will flow in the state,” Shah said. “We will also prioritise the welfare of the poor. We will construct a national grid which will stop infiltration,” he added, making the issue of illegal immigration a central plank of the BJP’s pitch for the 2026 state elections.
The Home Minister trained his guns on the Banerjee administration, accusing it of obstructing central welfare schemes and fostering an environment of fear and corruption.
“Due to corruption under the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state, development in West Bengal has stopped. All beneficial schemes started by Modi ji have become victims of the toll syndicate here,” Shah alleged. He claimed that “fear and corruption” had become the state’s identity over the last 14 years of TMC rule.
Positioning the BJP as the rightful heir to Bengal’s legacy, Shah invoked the party’s founder, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a Bengali leader. “After April 15, 2026, when the BJP government is formed in West Bengal, we will start the revival of Bengal's heritage and culture. This 'Banga Bhoomi' holds great importance for us,” he stated.
Exuding confidence about the BJP’s prospects, Shah predicted the party would form the next government in West Bengal with a two-thirds majority. He traced the party’s electoral growth in the state since 2014 to bolster his claim.
“In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got 17% votes and two seats... In the 2021 Assembly elections, the party got 21% votes and 77 seats. The party which got 3 seats in 2016, got 77 seats in a span of five years,” Shah said, highlighting the decline of the Congress and Left Front. He concluded, “In 2026, BJP will form a government with majority in West Bengal.”
Shah’s remarks are set to intensify the already fierce political battle in Bengal. The promise to act against “infiltrators” is a consistent theme in the BJP’s national narrative, often criticised by opponents as being divisive. The TMC is likely to counter it by framing it as an attack on the state’s communal harmony and a targeting of its Bengali identity.
The Home Minister’s visit and his forceful pronouncements mark the formal launch of the BJP’s high-stakes campaign to wrest control of one of India’s most politically significant states, where it has emerged as the principal challenger to the ruling TMC over the past decade.
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