Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 1 March: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday sharpened its political pitch in West Bengal with party’s former national president and Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda using the platform of the Parivartan Yatra at Dignagar in Krishnagar to mount an expansive critique of the Trinamul Congress government.
Launching a blistering political attack, Mr Nadda alleged that “TMC stands for terror, Muslim appeasement and corruption,” while accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of attempting to turn the state into a “hub of infiltrators” where law and order had allegedly collapsed.
Addressing a large rally, Mr Nadda claimed West Bengal’s original inhabitants will become a minority because Mamata Banerjee is helping infiltrators. He also alleged that the TMC was trying to turn the state into a “hub of infiltrators”.
Addressing a large gathering, Mr Nadda framed the rally not merely as a campaign event but as a political moment tied to Bengal’s historical self-image. Opening with nationalist slogans and extended salutations to party leaders including state BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar, national IT cell head Amit Malviya and senior leader Rahul Sinha, he sought to project organisational unity while signalling renewed central leadership engagement in the state.
The speech followed a familiar but strategically layered structure increasingly visible in BJP campaigns in Bengal — invoking civilisational pride before transitioning into governance criticism and finally presenting the Centre’s developmental record as a counterpoint to the state administration led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Mr Nadda began by situating Bengal within a larger national narrative, paying homage to figures such as Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Syama Prasad Mukherjee. By invoking Bengal’s intellectual and spiritual legacy, the BJP president attempted to reinforce the party’s long-standing argument that contemporary Bengal has drifted away from its historical leadership role in shaping national thought and reform movements. Referring to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu while addressing the audience, he described the region as a confluence of devotion, education and social awakening — a symbolic framing that linked cultural heritage with political change.
The core of Mr Nadda’s address, however, was an economic critique. He argued that Bengal’s industrial decline over the past decade reflected policy stagnation and governance failures. Listing closures of industrial units and migration of businesses to other states, he claimed that regions historically associated with heavy industry — Kolkata, Haldia, Asansol and Durgapur — had lost their competitive edge. According to him, Bengal’s share in national industrial output had fallen drastically since Independence, while investment inflows had weakened due to what he described as an unfavourable business climate.
By citing specific figures on industrial closures and economic share decline, Mr Nadda attempted to shift political debate from identity-based mobilisation to governance and development metrics, an area where the BJP seeks to challenge the Trinamul Congress’s welfare-centric narrative.
The BJP minister also sharpened attacks on law and order, alleging rising crime rates and administrative breakdown. Referring to National Crime Records Bureau statistics and recent criminal incidents, he accused the state government of failing to ensure safety and institutional accountability. The issue of infiltration, a recurring theme in BJP campaigns in eastern India, featured prominently in his speech, with Mr Nadda promising stricter border management if the party comes to power in the state.
Equally significant was his attempt to contrast state governance with the performance of the Union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Highlighting India’s economic rise in global rankings, expansion in manufacturing sectors and infrastructure growth, he argued that Bengal had benefited substantially from central allocations through tax devolution and grants. The speech emphasised highway expansion, railway modernisation, introduction of Vande Bharat services and redevelopment of railway stations under national schemes, presenting these as examples of development allegedly slowed by lack of cooperation from the state administration.
Politically, the rally underscored the BJP’s renewed effort to consolidate organisational momentum in districts like Nadia, where religious-cultural symbolism and border-related issues hold electoral significance, but it was seen that many people who came to hear Mr Nadda’s speech, left the gathering minutes after his speech began.
