Last Updated:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the West Bengal assembly election next year is not only about the state’s future but also about safeguarding India’s national interests
Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah addresses an organisational meeting of the party at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on June 1. (Image: PTI/Swapan Mahapatra)
The BJP has, so far, largely centred its campaign against the TMC on issues of poor governance and corruption. This time, however, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in West Bengal has made it clear that the focus will be on national security for the assembly elections next year.
Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state, Amit Shah took to the stage with the slogan: Lokhyo bijoy sankalp parivartan (Aim to win, determined to change).
“This time, Bengal’s fight is directly linked to the security of the nation,” Shah told party workers at an organisational meeting of the BJP in Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday. He was in the city for a day and inaugurated a central forensic laboratory followed by a visit to Swami Vivekananda’s residence.
Shah said the upcoming West Bengal election is not only about the state’s future but also about safeguarding India’s national interests.
“She (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) is facilitating illegal Bangladeshi infiltration through the border. This infiltration is happening with her blessings. Shouldn’t this be stopped? Can Mamata Banerjee stop it? Only the BJP can put an end to it,” he alleged.
Given the domestic situation and evolving developments in Bangladesh, it is evident that the BJP plans to aggressively campaign on the issue of national security. According to senior BJP insiders, the party will try to convey to the people that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) – in pursuit of vote-bank politics – has allowed large-scale infiltration.
They alleged that this has led to demographic change and poses a serious national security risk. The party plans to make this a core issue during its campaign, they said.
Alongside infiltration, the BJP will also capitalise on Mamata Banerjee’s remarks against Operation Sindoor, which were highlighted in Shah’s speech.
“When the Prime Minister came here after Operation Sindoor, Mamata Banerjee opposed it,” he said. “She hurt the sentiments of crores of mothers and sisters. In the upcoming election, our women will teach her the value of sindoor.”
The BJP is expected to build its 2026 West Bengal campaign around several themes: vote-bank appeasement politics, opposition to Operation Sindoor, alleged persecution of Hindus, and the demographic impact of illegal infiltration.
Experts suggest that the BJP will also highlight the situation in Murshidabad and Malda, where the party has claimed Hindus have been reduced to minority. It has said this is a direct consequence of unchecked infiltration.
The home minister referred to recent violence in Murshidabad, stating: “We kept asking the state government to deploy the BSF (Border Security Force), but they did nothing. Finally, our workers had to go to court. Only then did the BSF intervene and save lives. A state minister was present during the violence; this was a state-sponsored riot.”
The BJP believes that the Murshidabad violence, which targeted one particular community, will become a key issue in the 2026 poll campaign, party insiders said.
“The people of this country want a patriotic government, not an appeasement-based one,” Shah said, underlining from start to finish, the tone the BJP intends to set during its campaign in Bengal.
WHAT DID THE TMC SAY?
The TMC strongly responded to Shah’s remarks on national security and Operation Sindoor, accusing him of deflecting blame and failing in his responsibilities.
The party said if infiltration is indeed taking place in Bengal, the responsibility lies with the home minister since the BSF functions under his ministry. The party also rejected his allegation that the TMC opposed Operation Sindoor.
“Amit Shah is to be blamed. If national security is being compromised, then as the home minister, he should take responsibility and resign. He is a total failure who allowed terrorists to enter the country and kill 26 of our tourists in Pahalgam. Even before that, there were incidents like Pulwama, where paramilitary forces had requested to be airlifted, but the request was denied. This is all on record,” said senior TMC leader Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
Dastidar said a TMC delegation had recently visited Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, and witnessed firsthand the deep sense of insecurity felt by residents in the border villages.
Kamalika Sengupta, Editor, Digital East of News18, is a multilingual journalist with 16 years of experience in covering the northeast, with specialisation in politics and defence. She has won UNICEF Laadli Awar…Read More
Kamalika Sengupta, Editor, Digital East of News18, is a multilingual journalist with 16 years of experience in covering the northeast, with specialisation in politics and defence. She has won UNICEF Laadli Awar… Read More
- First Published:
