West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Time for 'badlav' not 'badla': PM Modi after landslide win

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said BJP's win in West Bengal is historic and asked all parties to work for 'badlav' (change), not 'badla' (revenge), and ensure that the state's future trumps over fear.

Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters after the win in assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry, he said the lotus is now blooming from Gangotri to Gangasagar.

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"It is a day of trust in the great democracy of India, trust in the politics of performance, trust in the resolve of stability, trust in the spirit of Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat.

"I bow before the people of West Bengal, Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Keralam," he said at the victory celebration event where BJP President Nitin Nabin, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, among others, were present.

Modi said on November 14 last year, when the Bihar election results came in, he told the BJP workers from this very spot that the Ganga flows onward from Bihar all the way to Ganga Sagar (in West Bengal).

"And today, with victory in West Bengal, from Gangotri (Uttarakhand) to Ganga Sagar (West Bengal), it is nothing but the lotus in full bloom. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal today, in these states surrounding Mother Ganga, there are BJP-NDA governments," he said.

Democracy, not fear, won in this festival of democracy in West Bengal, Modi said.

When the BJP has won in Bengal, there should be talk of 'badlav' (change) not 'badla' (revenge), 'bhavishya' (future) not 'bhay' (fear), he said.

The Prime Minister said winning and losing are a natural part of democracy and politics, but the people of the five states have shown the world why the country is the mother of democracy.

"Democracy is not just a system for us; it is the river of traditions in our veins. Today, not only has India's democracy triumphed, but India's Constitution has also triumphed. Our constitutional institutions have triumphed; our democratic processes have triumphed," he said.

Modi said the nearly 93 per cent voter turnout in West Bengal has been historic in itself, and new records of voting have also been set in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.

He said women's participation in this election has been exceptionally high and this is emerging as the brightest picture of Indian democracy.

" Today is a historic day, unprecedented. When years of penance transform into attainment, the joy that appears on the face, that joy today I am seeing on the faces of BJP workers across the country," he said.

The Prime Minister also congratulated the Election Commission, all its employees, all the personnel involved in the voting process, especially the security forces, for the successful conduct of the assembly elections.

"History will always remember your contribution to maintaining the dignity of India's democracy," he said.

(With PTI inputs)