'...appearing culturally coercive or administratively vindictive.' 'If it governs as a conquering force, resistance will build.'
The BJP's landslide victory in West Bengal has not merely redrawn the electoral map but overturned the operating logic of politics in the state, breaching the TMC's entrenched fortress despite a decade-and-a-half of dominance, minority consolidation, and a sustained "outsider" narrative.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, accusing it of misrule and hindering the state's progress. He appealed to voters to remove the TMC from power in the upcoming assembly elections, promising development and a corruption-free government under the BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, citing misrule and corruption, and urged voters to elect the BJP for development and progress.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised the BJP for allegedly deleting names from electoral rolls and attempting to divide people on religious and caste lines during a community outreach programme in her Bhabanipur constituency.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a strong attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her government of appeasement politics, encouraging illegal immigration for votes, and leading the state into misrule and corruption.
The BJP's West Bengal unit chief, Samik Bhattacharya, has criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, accusing it of crushing democracy and creating a lawless environment in the state. He highlighted political violence, rising debt, and a lack of investor confidence as key issues under the TMC's rule.
Under the TMC, Bengal has seen expansion of welfare, but not big-ticket private investment.
In West Bengal's electoral chessboard, governments are rarely made in the hills of North Bengal or the forested region of Jangalmahal. Power is usually decided in the crowded plains of South Bengal, where elections are won less by momentum and more by mathematics.
Voting has commenced in 142 constituencies for the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, with significant security measures in place. The outcome will determine whether the TMC maintains its dominance or if the BJP can gain ground in the state.
A Trinamool Congress delegation reported a contentious meeting with the Election Commission, alleging the chief election commissioner dismissed them abruptly, while the EC has accused the TMC of disruptive behaviour.
'The nepotism, corruption, bad governance and 15 years of rampant crime that has happened across West Bengal under her rule led to her ouster.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced six guarantees for West Bengal if the BJP wins the Assembly polls, criticising the TMC government and promising development and accountability.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of playing the 'victim card' and pushing the state towards destruction. He promised to end the TMC's 'syndicate raj' and ensure justice for women if the BJP is voted to power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced six guarantees for West Bengal if the BJP wins the Assembly polls, promising to end the 'reign of fear' and address corruption, while criticising the TMC government's performance.
A man died after becoming trapped in a lift at a Kolkata hospital, leading to accusations of negligence and corruption against the state government.
This election is different. It is no longer simply about governance or welfare. It is about identity, fear, and who belongs. The BJP has successfully shifted the terms of the debate from what the government has delivered to who the real Bengali is and who is an outsider, points out Ramesh Menon.
The BJP has nominated the mother of a victim in the RG Kar case from Panihati constituency for the upcoming West Bengal elections, aiming to leverage public outrage over the incident. This move is part of a broader strategy to challenge the ruling TMC by highlighting issues of women's safety and governance.
The Calcutta High Court has ordered the revival and prosecution of ten criminal cases related to murders in Nandigram and Khejuri during an anti-land acquisition movement in 2007. The court deemed the West Bengal government's decision to withdraw prosecution in these cases, involving the deaths of at least ten individuals, as unlawful. The bench emphasized that murders had indeed occurred and that allowing the prosecution to withdraw under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code would not be in the public interest. The court stated that violence in any form should be eschewed in a democracy and that a state must exhibit zero tolerance towards it. The court set aside the state government's decision to withdraw prosecution and directed the public prosecutor to take appropriate measures within a fortnight.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted that the BJP will form the government in West Bengal after the upcoming assembly elections, ending the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule. He criticised the TMC for vote-bank politics, hindering development, and failing to protect women, while promising unprecedented development under a BJP government.
The Election Commission released the names of deleted voters in West Bengal ahead of the publication of the draft electoral rolls for the upcoming assembly elections.
The Election Commission is set to publish the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal on Tuesday following the completion of the statewide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the 2026 assembly polls. The publication of the draft rolls will mark the end of the enumeration phase and the beginning of a far more contentious stage - claims, objections and hearings that will stretch into February 2026.
Nandigram, 126 km south of Kolkata, is Suvendu Adhikari's bastion, where he has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes or quit politics.
While it is evident that the INDIA bloc has not shut its doors on Nitish Kumar, those within the NDA are hopeful that the JD-U's support base would benefit them as well
Banerjee lost the Nandigram assembly elections to BJP candidate and her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari by 1,956 votes, the Election Commission said.
The father of a 24-year-old nurse found dead at a nursing home in West Bengal alleges foul play and demands a CBI investigation, rejecting claims of suicide.
Posters projecting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as an 'outsider' surfaced in Nandigram on Wednesday, the high-profile constituency from where the Trinamool Congress supremo filed her nomination for the assembly polls.
Will Mamata's bhasha andolan campaign sway Bengal's bhadralok before the 2026 election in the TMC's favour?
A blood-soaked Nandigram made Mamata Banerjee what she is today and underpins the hopes of the combustible West Bengal leader of clinching a third straight term in office.
Hundreds of local people and party activists accompanied her, shouting the slogan of 'Mamata Banerjee Zindabad!'.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination on Friday from the Nandigram seat against his mentor-turned-adversary Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, and said he was '100 per cent' confident of his victory.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination for Nandigram assembly seat, where she will take on her former protege and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari and exuded confidence of winning it saying she has never returned empty-handed from the land of anti-farm land acquisition movement.
All eyes are on battleground Nandigram that is goin to the polls on Thursday with the chief minister engaged in a fierce contest with her protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.
The death of a 24-year-old nurse at a private nursing home in West Bengal's Hooghly district has triggered political unrest and allegations of a cover-up. Opposition parties are demanding a fair investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death, alleging foul play and potential sexual assault.
It's a political gambit aimed at the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari who won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate, while also retroceding to the land movement that catapulted her to power.
Her campaign in the high-stakes constituency will begin at 11 am on Monday with an 8-kilometre roadshow from Khudiram More to Thakurchowk in Nandigram Block 2, followed by a public meeting in Jansabha Boyal II.
Sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of booth jamming marred the voting process in the second phase.
Banerjee, who is pitted against former lieutenant and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat, said that farmers are the pride of West Bengal and the state government is working tirelessly for their development.
Those who have 'sold their souls to outsiders from Gujarat' are insulting the Nandigram movement by playing the communal card, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday, and rejected the claim that she was an outsider in Nandigram.
"I was standing outside my car with the door open. I was going to a temple there to offer my prayers. Few people came around my car and pushed the door. The door hit my leg," she said.
