Chiseled poll narrative, set targets for state BJP leaders mark Shah’s 3-day Bengal visit

Kolkata, Dec 31 (PTI) A well-chiseled poll narrative of "infiltration and corruption" against the TMC and setting the house in order by assigning concrete "tasks" to state BJP leaders in the run-up to assembly polls marked the takeaways of the tightly packed itinerary of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who spent the last three days of 2025 in West Bengal.

In a first, Shah during his visit reached out to the Bengal unit of the RSS to coordinate a joint poll strategy and brought back BJP’s former Bengal president Dilip Ghosh, who had been perceptually sidelined over the past few months, as one of the main faces of the party for its campaign drive.

During his stay, Shah chaired at least five political meetings of varied configurations, including a brainstorming session with the local RSS leaders and addressing a meeting of party workers from Kolkata and its suburbs, and held a press conference where he set his party's tone for the high-stakes assembly polls.

The home minister also squeezed a customary visit to a Kali temple in Kolkata into his packed schedule.

On Tuesday, Shah launched a broadside against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her government of "dangerously altering" the state's demography by abetting the infiltration of Bangladeshis for electoral gains and indulging in widespread corruption.

He said the BJP will restore the state's lost glory, and "after April 15, 2026, when a BJP government is formed in Bengal, the party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin the revival of the state's pride, culture, and renaissance." Asserting that infiltration has created a sense of insecurity and anxiety among the people in the state besides becoming a "national security issue", the home minister said "driving infiltrators out of the country" would be his party's key poll issue.

Announcing that a "strong and robust national grid" would be set up to end infiltration in Bengal, Shah said, "Insaan chhod dijiye, parinda bhi par nahin maar paye, is prakar ki mazboot grid ki rachana hum karenge (forget humans, even birds won't be able to breach the grid we intend to build)." "Na keval ghoospet rokenge, saare ghoospetiyon ko chun chun ke Bharat ke bahar nikalne ka kaam bhi BJP ki Bangal sarkar karegi (The BJP-led government in Bengal will not only stop the infiltrators, but it will also identify each of them and drive them out of the country)," he added.

Shah predicted a two-third majority for the BJP in 2026 and claimed that the people of Bengal have firmly resolved to replace the "environment of fear, corruption, misgovernance, and infiltration by reestablishment of its heritage, development, and uplifting of the poor".

Coming down heavily on the TMC government on corruption and women's safety, Shah alleged that the TMC has surpassed the Left in establishing the politics of fear and violence.

Shah accused the TMC of backing a "syndicate raj" to perpetuate corruption, and claimed that West Bengal's economy has witnessed an unprecedented slide, with more than 7,000 industries fleeing from the state.

"The state has sunk to its lowest during the Trinamool's rule; there is no place left for it to slide further," he said.

On Wednesday, during a closed-door meeting with party MPs, MLAs, civic body councillors, and organisational portfolio holders, Shah directed BJP public representatives to intensify grassroots outreach by spending at least four days a week in their constituencies and holding at least five street-corner meetings daily, as the party geared up for the polls.

Setting clear performance benchmarks, the leader asked them to "prove their worth" to be eligible for a party ticket to contest the assembly elections, scheduled to be held in the next four months, according to a party leader present at the gathering.

Calling for cohesion within the party, Shah sought to project a unified front while indicating that former state president Dilip Ghosh would be one of the main faces of the saffron camp in the elections.

Ghosh, who has largely stayed away from the forefront of the BJP's activities in the state over the past several months, was also invited for the meeting, signalling his renewed importance.

"I can't say much, but you will see an active Ghosh in the 2026 polls. I was called to listen to my experiences and opinions," Ghosh told reporters while leaving the meeting venue.

Shortly afterwards, while addressing a closed-door meeting of grassroots workers from Kolkata at the Science City Auditorium, Shah said the dangers of infiltration and corruption "are clear and present" and have acquired "institutional status" under the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC regime.

He said those living in the metropolis "wouldn't remain immune for long from the impact of these vices".

"Dil pe likh lo, isbaar humari sarkar (Etch this in your hearts, it will be our government this time)," Shah was quoted as saying in his address by a worker who attended the meet.

Shah set a victory target of at least 20 of the 28 assembly seats falling within the four Lok Sabha constituencies of the party's Kolkata Mahanagar area from where workers attended the session.

The home minister wrapped up his visit by paying his obeisance at the Thanthania Kali Temple in central Kolkata before leaving for the airport for his departure to Delhi, amid protests by a group of Pradesh Congress workers who were held back by the city police at a distance from the sanctum. PTI SMY MNB