West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | BJP's manifesto differs little from TMC, but saffron party promises to revive industries in state

Kolkata: After ridiculing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s 'Lakshmir Bhandar' scheme, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday promised a similar programme with a higher monthly payout for women, apart from the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in West Bengal within six months of ousting the Trinamool Congress and coming to power in the state.

The BJP’s manifesto – the ‘sankalpa patra’ in the party’s lexicon – also promised a scheme for providing financial assistance of Rs 3000 to every unemployed youth, much like the “Yuva Sathi” scheme launched by the TMC government – albeit with a monthly pay-out rate of Rs 1500 – just a few weeks before the state went into poll mode.

The saffron party, however, also pledged to revive industries, beginning with an industrial park in Singur, where a protest between 2006 and 2008 against the acquisition of land for a car manufacturing plant forced Tata Motors to shift its unit to Gujarat and catapulted the TMC to power in West Bengal in 2011. The BJP has been criticising Mamata Banerjee’s government for giving out doles instead of reviving industries and generating employment opportunities.

Home Minister Amit Shah released the BJP’s manifesto in Kolkata but refrained from declaring the chief ministerial candidate of the party. “Any of our leaders in the state can take over the office of the chief minister after our victory in West Bengal. The BJP’s choice of the CM in West Bengal will be someone from the state itself – capable, qualified and able to ensure good governance,” he said, avoiding lending credence to the speculation that Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the outgoing state assembly, might be picked up for the top job, in the event of the party’s victory in the assembly elections. “We are not a dynastic party where leadership passes automatically from a Didi to a nephew,” he added, taking a dig at Mamata and her heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee.

“When a person falls ill, you offer medical care and support — that is not a freebie,” Shah said, defending the BJP’s promise to repackage the TMC government’s monthly pay-out schemes for women and youths, despite criticising the freebie culture in the past. “These measures are designed to benefit women and youth of West Bengal.”

The TMC questioned if the BJP was truly committed to supporting unemployed youth, why it had not introduced similar financial assistance schemes in other “double-engine” states like Gujarat, Assam, Jharkhand, or Odisha. “After repeatedly disparaging the TMC government’s schemes like Banglar Yuba-Sathi and Lakshmir Bhandar, the BJP's attempt to replicate them appears to be a cynical ploy to mislead voters,” Abhishek said in Kolkata.

“The Constituent Assembly recommended that India should have a Uniform Civil Code. The politics of appeasement hindered its implementation for a long time. Now, the states with the BJP government implemented it, and we will do it in West Bengal, too,” the Union Home Minister said, adding: “There will be one law for every person in the state.” He also promised that when the BJP would come to power after the elections, it would enact strict laws to curb illegal migration from across the India-Bangladesh border and smuggling of cattle.

The TMC, however, warned that if the UCC was forced upon West Bengal, the Scheduled Tribes would suffer the most. “Their (tribal communities) unique traditions, customs, and hard-earned land rights will come under direct attack,” said Abhishek.

The BJP promised to give land titles to tea workers within 100 days of coming to power, in addition to expanding welfare measures, and the constitution of a panel on labour and exports, alongside steps to curb fakes and boost Darjeeling Tea’s global standing.