West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | PM Modi accuses TMC of ‘appeasement’, calls Mamata rule ‘Maha Jungle Raj’

PM Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that Mamata Banerjee’s party was playing a “dangerous game of appeasement”.

Kolkata: The election in West Bengal is a contest between “Bhoy” (fear) of the Trinamool Congress and “Bharosa” (trust) of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, even as he sought to rekindle the memory of a communal riot in the aftermath of Partition of Bengal by the British Raj in 1905.

Modi cited the recent confinement of seven judicial officers by a mob of protesters in Malda in North Bengal as an example of “Maha Jungle Raj” of the TMC and accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party and the government of pursuing a policy of appeasement and of facilitating illegal migration from across the India-Bangladesh border and, thus, changing the demographic profile of the state. The prime minister, who addressed a rally in Cooch Behar, pointed out that the TMC had titled its manifesto as “istehar”, not a Bengali word.

“The TMC recently released its manifesto for the coming elections. Instead of a Bengali word, it titled it as ‘istehar’. Just think how they (the TMC) are trying to change the identity of Bengal,” said Modi, before referring to the “Lal Ishtihar” (Red Pamphlet), which the Nawab of Dhaka, Khwaja Salimullah, had got written by Ibrahim Khan, at the behest of the British Raj, around the time of Partition of Bengal in 1905. The document allegedly had set the stage for March 1907 communal riots in areas now in Bangladesh.

Modi on Sunday alleged that Mamata Banerjee’s party was playing a “dangerous game of appeasement”.

The rally in Cooch Behar was the first by the prime minister in West Bengal after the Election Commission announced the schedule of the polls in the state. The party’s de facto chief ministerial candidate, Suvendu Adhikari, was conspicuous in absence on the podium of the rally. He was busy campaigning for himself in Nandigram.

“You have bhoy (fear) of the TMC, on one side, and, on the other, the BJP's 'bharosa' (trust). On one side is the fear of TMC's cut money and corruption, and on the other side is the BJP which accelerates development,” he said.

Modi referred to the recent incident of confinement of seven judicial officers at Kaliachak in Malda by a mob, which was protesting against disenfranchisement of a large number of voters due to the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in the state.

“What kind of system has been put in place that even judges and the constitutional process cannot be safe? If this is the kind of government the TMC has been running, how can this party ensure the safety of the common people of West Bengal?” wondered Modi, alleging that the incident in Malda had reflected not only the arrogance of the TMC, but also the Maha Jungle Raj unleashed by Mamata Banerjee’s government. “Whenever the noose of justice tightens around the TMC, it tries to strangle constitutional institutions.”

He alleged that the TMC was trying to stall the SIR of the electoral rolls to shield the infiltrators who sneaked into India through Bangladesh and settled in West Bengal with the help of the ruling party.