Kolkata: Dismissing Prime Minister Modi’s assertion that the BJP’s sweeping win in Bihar has “paved the way to end jungle raj” in Bengal as “pure illusion”, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Friday, mounting a sharp counter-attack, hit back, declaring that the Mamata Banerjee government is poised to return in 2026 with a 250-seat mandate.
Responding to Modi’s remark that “just as the Ganga flows from Bihar to Bengal, the BJP’s victory will flow there too”, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said Bengal has repeatedly rejected the BJP’s politics of division. He added that the saffron party’s dream of conquering the state is an illusion — “like a tortoise wanting to lie on its back.”
“Waiting for them is the Bengal Tigress - Mamata Banerjee,” Ghosh told reporters, adding: “The Bihar chemistry will not work here. In Bengal, Banerjee is the commander.”
Refuting the BJP’s “jungle raj’ remarks, Ghosh said: “There is no jungle raj in Bengal. Jungle raj existed during the Left era. Government data shows Bengal is one of the safest states. From Kashmir to Delhi, the crime graphs show where ‘jungle raj’ really is.” He said Modi was “yet to learn lessons from the defeats of 2021 and 2024”, asserting that the verdict in 2026 would be no different.
Before the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections, the BJP leaders claimed that they would win over 200 seats. A hype that was created by the party’s central leaders. However, after the elections, the saffron party had to be satisfied with only 77 seats. The same hype was created again during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But the BJP failed miserably in Bengal.
Ghosh reminded that the BJP lost the Assembly polls, the panchayats, and Lok Sabha seats even after PM Modi camped here. TMC gained seats. In 2026, Mamata Banerjee will become the Chief Minister for a fourth straight term with over 250 seats,” he asserted.
Claiming that the Bihar equation does not apply in Bengal, he said: “In Bihar, you fought Congress-type parties. But in Bengal, the TMC has prepared counters for every allegation. Let Modiji keep this fantasy talk inside the pocket of his ten-lakh-rupee jacket.”
Reiterating that Bengal’s rights were trampled by the BJP, senior TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said: “Modi ji shouldn’t be under any illusion. You not only have insulted the people of Bengal but also taken away their rights by halting their funds, especially those of women. These Women and every common people of Bengal will teach a lesson to the BJP democratically in the upcoming elections by decimating Bangla Birodhi Zamindars BJP.”
Meanwhile, after yet another poll debacle of the Congress in Bihar, Trinamool MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay on Friday said that Mamata Banerjee should be the “face” of the INDIA bloc to counter the BJP nationally.
“Didi (Mamata) should be the face of the non-BJP front to fight the communal, divisive, dictatorial, and undemocratic politics of the BJP. She is the one who can repulse the BJP challenge and carry on the fight successfully in the country,” Bandopadhyay added.
Earlier in the day, Union minister Giriraj Singh declared that their “next target” is Bengal. His remarks provoked a sharp reaction from the state’s ruling TMC, which said Bengal and Bihar are “not the same”.
“Bihar had decided that a government of anarchy would not be formed. The youth of Bihar are intelligent. This is the victory of development. We have won Bihar. Now it is Bengal’s turn,” he said, adding: “In Bengal also, Didi (CM Mamata Banerjee) is running a government with Bangladeshis and goons. It will be defeated.”
Senior TMC leader Bratya Basu said that Giriraj crossed every limit and called the people of Bengal “Bangladeshis” and “Rohingyas”.
Slamming the Union minister for “distorting” the identity of the people, Basu said: “This was a calculated insult, a deliberate attempt to stain the identity of an entire state. How dare you speak of Bengal with such casual contempt? How dare you distort the identity of a people who have shaped the intellectual and cultural foundation of this country? How dare you turn Bengal’s diversity into a target for your political desperation?
“…you open your mouth only to spit venom at Bengalis. Understand this clearly, Bengal’s identity is not yours to define, and Bengal’s people are not pawns in your politics. Bengal knows who it is, and Bengal knows exactly who you are,” Basu wrote on X. Another senior party leader, Shashi Panja, said: “The BJP has become a toxic factory of venom. Giriraj Singh has dared to brand Bengal, a state that has given India its Constitution makers, poets, revolutionaries, Nobel laureates, scientists, and social reformers, as a state of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. This is a direct attack on Bengal’s IDENTITY, DIGNITY, and CIVILIZATIONAL PRIDE. BJP cannot win Bengal, so it tries to defame Bengal. It cannot defeat Smt. @MamataOfficial, so it tries to malign the people of Bengal.”
TMC Rajya Sabha MP, Sagarika Ghosh, on social media said: “BJP’s daily assault on Bengal is no accident, it is a calculated campaign of contempt. From the persecution of Bengali migrant workers to the denigration of our cultural icons, and now Union Minister Giriraj Singh calling Bengal a “state of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas”.