Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sharpened the BJP’s attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC), using the Malda gherao of judicial officers to allege a collapse of law and order and terming the situation in West Bengal as “maha jungleraj”.
Addressing his first rally in Cooch Behar after the announcement of the Assembly poll schedule, Modi said the incident — where judicial officers were held for hours, raised serious questions about governance.
“What kind of government is this, where judges and constitutional procedures are not safe? We cannot expect such a government to keep the people of Bengal safe,” he said.
Positioning the election as a binary contest, Modi pitched the BJP’s “bharosa” (trust) against the “bhay” (fear) he alleged was prevalent under TMC rule. He linked the Malda episode with broader concerns around safety, corruption, and alleged infiltration from Bangladesh.
“On one side is the fear of TMC’s corruption and intimidation, on the other is BJP’s development and trust,” he said, adding that demographic changes in border districts posed a threat to Bengal’s identity.
The Prime Minister also accused the TMC of opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to “protect infiltrators”. He assured voters that elections would be “free, fair and without fear”, and warned that “every act” of alleged corruption and violence would be investigated after the results.
Mamata hits back, flags voter deletions and EC role
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee countered the BJP’s attack by focusing on alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls, urging voters to “take revenge” through the ballot.
“Cast your votes to take revenge for deletion of people’s names,” she said at a rally in Murshidabad’s Samserganj, asking party workers to remain vigilant till
counting day on May 4.
Banerjee alleged that names were being removed arbitrarily during the SIR exercise and claimed that even in her Bhabanipur constituency, around 40,000 voters had been deleted from the rolls. She questioned the need for fresh revisions instead of using the lists from the 2024 general elections.
“If the voter list had infiltrators earlier, then those who won elections using those votes should resign first,” she said, in a pointed response to the BJP’s claims.
In an apparent swipe at the Centre, she alleged political interference behind the deletions and challenged the BJP leadership to “fight directly” instead of targeting voters.
Banerjee also instructed party workers to be alert to possible malfunctioning of EVMs and to demand replacements rather than allow on-the-spot repairs. She further alleged that voters were being “intimidated” during the revision process.
The competing narratives signal a direct contest between the BJP and the TMC across all 294 constituencies, with both sides sharpening their messaging ahead of the two-phase polling on April 23 and 29.
While Modi foregrounded law and order, infiltration and governance, Banerjee focused on alleged electoral manipulation and voter rights, asserting that her government would not allow any move towards NRC or detention centres.
Follow us
