A day before voting begins in 152 constituencies in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, Union home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday kicked off aggressive campaigning for the second phase, targeting the remaining 142 seats across key south Bengal districts, including Kolkata.
Shah discussed strategies for four hours with key Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders at a Kolkata hotel on Tuesday night, party workers said.
Of the six districts going to polls in the second phase on April 29, four—South 24 Parganas (31 seats), Kolkata (11 seats), East Burdwan (16 seats) and Howrah (18 seats)—have sizeable Muslim populations and no BJP MLAs.
Addressing a rally in the North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, which has 33 seats—the state’s highest number due to its size and population density—on Wednesday, Shah said, “Infiltrators tortured our sisters in Sandeshkhali for years but our chief minister, despite being a woman, remained silent.” He was referring to the 2024 unrest in North 24 Parganas district’s Sandeshkhali area against the alleged rape of local women by followers of TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who is currently in jail.
Only three seats—which have a sizeable number of Hindu refugee families from Bangladesh—currently have BJP MLAs in North 24 Parganas.
Mentioning the 2024 rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and the alleged rape case of a student inside South Calcutta Law College in 2025, Shah said, “The chief minister advised women not to leave home after 7 pm. I promise that after May 5 even a small girl will ride her scooty at night without fear. All ruffians will be taken care of.”
Shah referred to the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a mosque modelled on Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid by suspended TMC MLA Humayun Kabir in Murshidabad district, and said, “Mamata Banerjee opposed the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya but drove out Humayun Kabir to build Babri Masjid. Can there be a Babri Masjid in the land of Rabindranath Tagore and Vivekananda?”
Meanwhile, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee appealed to Muslim voters in North 24 Parganas district’s Amdanga not to leave for the Haj pilgrimage without casting their votes.
“There is enough time to leave for Haj. Don’t go without casting your vote. The state’s Haj committee will make all arrangements for your journey. If you leave without voting then they will enforce NRC (National Register of Citizens) and all of you will be delisted,” Banerjee said.
“In Assam they deleted the names of 1.2 million Hindus and 0.7 million Muslims during NRC. If they can delete the names of 10 million voters in Bengal in the name of SIR (special intensive revision of electoral roll), then they can drive all of you out of Bengal. Migrant workers returning to Bengal for the election are being forced to swear by the Gita or Quran that they will not vote for TMC,” she said.
“In 2011, I raised the slogan ‘Badla noi badol chai’ (we want change, not revenge). Now I am saying ‘Badol noi, badla chai’ (We want revenge, not change). We wont let them set Bengal on fire,” Banerjee added.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP president Nitin Nabin and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma participated in rallies and roadshows in Kolkata, Nadia, East Burdwan and North 24 Parganas.
The party said Shah will camp in Bengal till April 27.
