PTI
Malda
With the high-stakes West Bengal polls barely months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made infiltration the central plank of his offensive against the TMC government, alleging that large-scale illegal migration altered the state’s demography, fuelled riots, and thrived due to the ruling party’s “patronage and syndicate raj”.
Amid the ongoing political controversy over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Modi sought to reassure refugees such as the Matuas, who migrated to India after facing religious persecution in neighbouring Bangladesh, saying that they had nothing to fear.
Sharpening the battle lines and setting the tone for the 2026 electoral contest in the state, where the BJP is the principal challenger to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Modi accused TMC of “thuggery” and said its “politics of threatening and intimidating the poor” would soon come to an end, with Bengal, which is surrounded by BJP-ruled states, ready for what he called “Asol Paribartan”(real change).
Modi, who is on his second visit to the state in less than a month, launched a series of rail and road infrastructure projects worth about Rs 3,250 crore in the state and flagged off the first Vande Bharat sleeper train between Howrah and Guwahati before his rally in Malda, a key electoral battleground.
Addressing the mega rally in the Muslim-majority district of North Bengal, Modi said infiltration posed “a very big challenge” and alleged that TMC has an alliance with infiltrators, remarks that clearly indicated that illegal migration will be the central election issue of the BJP campaign in the state.
The elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are due in less than three months.
Recalling the BJP’s electoral victory in Bihar, he expressed confidence that Bengal would also give the party an overwhelming mandate in the upcoming elections.
The Prime Minister accused the TMC government of blocking welfare schemes meant for the poor and preventing the benefits of central programmes from reaching people.
He also flagged the non-implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the state.
“Today, Bengal is the only state where Ayushman Bharat has not been implemented. The TMC government is preventing my brothers and sisters in Bengal from availing its benefits. It is essential to bid farewell to such a ruthless government,” he said.
Meanwhile, responding to Modi’s allegations of corruption and diversion of central funds, the TMC challenged the Centre to release a white paper on fund allocation to Bengal since the BJP’s defeat in the 2021 Assembly elections.
After the rally, Modi flew to Assam, where he witnessed a performance of the traditional Bagurumba dance of the Bodo community in Guwahati. The Prime Minister will return to West Bengal on Sunday to inaugurate some more projects and will address a rally at Singur.
