Kolkata: Outlining a comprehensive roadmap for the BJP’s expanding footprint in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that in a free and fair, violence-free election, the people of the state would decisively reject Mamata Banerjee’s leadership and ensure the formation of a BJP-led government in 2026.
Addressing party leaders and workers at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here, Shah said, “Just a little more to go! You’ve already crossed 40 percent (of the vote). We need to move ahead by another four to five percent. In the next election, we will form the government.”
Analysing the growing influence of the saffron brigade in the state, Shah said, “In 2017, when I was the BJP president, I had said that a BJP government would be formed here. That day is now approaching. After the 2017 elections, we began our preparations. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we achieved success. In the 2021 Assembly elections, we won 77 seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP was leading in 97 Assembly segments.”
“Until 2026, work day and night, reach out to every voter in Bengal. Take the message of BJP and Narendra Modi to them. The entire country wants a patriotic government here, not a government of appeasement. Mamata Didi has shattered the dream of ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bengal). Her politics runs on corruption, infiltration, atrocities on women, and injustice towards Hindus,” the veteran BJP leader said.
Taking a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the violence after the 2021 assembly polls, he said, “In Bengal, during the elections and after Didi’s victory, hundreds of BJP workers were killed. Didi, how long will you protect them? I’m telling you — your (government’s) time is up. In 2026, the BJP will form the government.”
“I assure all our Mandal office-bearers that once the Trinamool government is ousted, we will dig out the culprits from beneath the ground if necessary and ensure they are punished for murdering our workers. Violence has no place in a democracy. Didi, if you have the courage, conduct an election without violence and see what happens. The people of Bengal will make sure you forfeit your deposit,” he said.
Shah’s sharp attack on Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress comes just three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Mamata government as a ‘Nirman Sarkar’ (Heartless Government), declaring that West Bengal needs liberation from politics rooted in violence, appeasement, riots, and corruption. These back-to-back statements from the BJP’s top leadership clearly mark the beginning of the party’s full-fledged campaign for the 2026 Assembly elections in the state. UNI
