Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 26: A day before the campaign closes for the second and final phase of polling for the West Bengal state Assembly elections, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress on Sunday came under severe attack both from the Congress and the principal rival BJP on the law and order situation in the State.
While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed a series of election rallies and held a road show in North Kolkata, labelled the TMC government’s tenure as “Jungle Raj,” the Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi blamed the TMC for the alleged killing of a Congress worker in Asansol and attacked the ruling party for fostering a “reign of terror” in the state.
The TMC on Sunday also lodged a complaint against BJP candidate Papia Adhikari, alleging misuse of the national flag during election campaigning in Tollygunge Assembly constituency in south Kolkata. The complaint was filed at Netajinagar police station by Kohinoor Mazumdar, vice-president of the West Bengal Trinamool Chhatra Parishad and TMC spokesperson.
Mr Mazumdar alleged that Adhikari was seen using a ‘dupatta’ bearing the Indian tricolour while campaigning door-to-door near Prasanta Sur Park in Ward 98 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation area on Saturday.
The Election Commission in turn on Sunday ordered a probe after a video purportedly showing bike-borne men intimidating locals in the Diamond Harbour Assembly constituency ahead of the second phase of polls in West Bengal surfaced on social media, a senior official said. Soon after the matter came to light, the poll panel lodged a formal complaint at the Diamond Harbour police station. Officials said a case has been registered and an investigation has been initiated. “The Election Commission is addressing the matter so that these threats get curbed by today,” the official said.
Stepping up his attacks on Ms Banerjee ahead of phase 2 of polling, Mr Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was allegedly fostering a “reign of terror” in the state. His remarks came in response to the alleged killing of a Congress worker by TMC supporters in Asansol.
Calling the Congress worker’s killing “utterly reprehensible,” Mr Gandhi said opposing voices were being “intimidated, attacked and eliminated” in West Bengal. This has become the defining character of TMC, Gandhi said in a long post in Hindi on X while condemning the incident and paying tribute to the Congress workers’ family.
“Congress’ politics has never been based on violence, nor will it ever be,” Gandhi said. “We too have lost our workers, yet we have always chosen the path of non-violence and the Constitution. This is our legacy, this is our resolve.”
Gandhi demanded that all the accused must be immediately arrested and the “harshest punishment” must be given to them, along with compensation to the Congress worker’s family. “We will not bow before this politics that stains India’s non-violent tradition. Justice will be done,” the former Congress president said in his post.
Prime Minister Modi while addressing a rally in Bongaon labelled the TMC government’s tenure as “Jungle Raj” while outlining initiative promises aimed at women’s empowerment. “The women of Bengal are the primary victims of the TMC’s ‘Jungle Raj’. They have been subjected to the greatest betrayal. Atrocities have been committed against our sisters in Sandeshkhali. The women were subjected to verbal abuse. Under the TMC’s ‘Jungle Raj’, young women are going missing.”
The Prime Minister promised that a BJP-led government in West Bengal would deposit ₹36,000 annually into the accounts of women. He also announced a landmark 33% reservation for women in government jobs, promising that “the double benefit of the BJP’s double-engine government will be doubled for the women of Bengal.”
Listing sexual assaults on women since the party “came to power 15 years ago,” Mr Modi ripped into the TMC saying it betrayed its own slogan “Ma Mati Manush”. “‘Ma’ is crying, ‘maati’ is with infiltrators, ‘maanush’ is scared,” he said. The Trinamool, he said, has failed to ensure security for the women in Bengal, he said.
Women have been the staunchest supporters of the Bengal Chief Minister, who has introduced a number of schemes for them over the years, including Lakshmir Bhandar (monthly cash transfers), Kanyashree (financial assistance for education), Rupashree (assistance for wedding) and vocational training under “Muktir Alo Yojana.”
This has enabled the state’s women to continue education and achieve independence. With her support, the state’s women have emerged as not just as voters and her ardent supporters but as social and economic forces who are shaping policy direction. This is the base that the BJP has been targeting since before the 2024 Lok Sabha election when the sexual exploitation of women in Sandeshkhali hit the headlines.
