Will double rural job from 100 days to 200 if voted to power in Bengal: BJP's Suvendu Adhikari

Chanchal (WB), Jan 2 (PTI) Amid a sharply rising political heat in poll-bound West Bengal, the state's Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, on Friday said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre will double the guaranteed 100-day rural employment scheme to 200 days if the BJP is voted to power in the upcoming elections.

Addressing a public meeting at Chanchal in Malda district, Adhikari urged people to preserve their job cards, claiming that the BJP would expand the rural employment guarantee scheme beyond its current scope.

"Keep your job cards well preserved. Once you elect the BJP to power, we will double the 100 days of rural job guarantee to 200 days," Adhikari said.

In December 2025, the BJP-led Centre passed the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB G RAM G) Bill, replacing the erstwhile MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

The new law guarantees 125 days of work instead of 100, integrates employment with infrastructure, and shifts 40 per cent funding responsibilities to the states, sparking wide-spread debate within the Parliament and outside over its impact and funding structure.

Claiming that the TMC was making false allegations against the central government about blocking funds to the state for housing and rural job guarantee schemes, Adhikari alleged that money given for these was looted by unauthorised beneficiaries backed by the ruling dispensation of the state.

"BJP will give Rs 3 lakh for each house to the beneficiaries if it comes to power in the state," he said, maintaining that Rs 1.20 lakh earmarked by the Mamata Banerjee government to build a house under the state's own housing scheme wasn't sufficient in the wake of rising material costs.

Lashing out at the TMC government for putting up administrative obstacles before all programmes he planned, Adhikari alleged he has had to knock the doors of the Calcutta High Court 104 times since the 2021 assembly polls to secure permissions for his rallies and political events, the current one at Chanchal included.

"Why? Because the tyrannical TMC regime and their puppet police force keep denying permissions without a shred of justification, purely to stifle opposition voices and crush democratic rights," he said.

"Time and again the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court has repeatedly slapped down these arbitrary denials and granted permissions, exposing the blatant abuse of power by Mamata Banerjee's Administration. This isn't governance; it's dictatorship in disguise," he added in a post on X.

Adhikari asserted that the ongoing SIR process is an indicator of what is likely to happen in the upcoming polls.

"The difference between the votes obtained by TMC and BJP in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was only 40 lakh. Already 58 lakh names have been deleted in the published draft voter list," he said.

Echoing the words of Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to Kolkata earlier this week, Adhikari said, "Trinamool Congress will sit in the opposition benches of West Bengal assembly after the polls in April." The BJP leader designated West Bengal as "the homeland for Bengali Hindus" and referred to the attack on Malda Uttar BJP MP Khagen Murmu in Jalpaiguri in October last year to state that the party cannot allow such spilling of blood to continue on the soil of the state.

"Badla chaile badal korun (To exact revenge, bring about change first)," Adhikari said, tweaking the TMC's "Badla Noy, Badal Chai (no revenge, only change)" slogan of 2011 state polls where it toppled the Left Front government in Bengal.

Addressing the meeting, titled 'Parivartan Sankalp Sabha', Adhikari referred to attacks on Hindus during the anti-Waqf Amendment Act violence in Murshidabad in early 2025, stating that the "need of the hour" was to "unite the Hindus statewide".

"The Hindus were united in two pockets of West Bengal before the 2021 polls, in the Malda Uttar region where the BJP snatched two seats, and in Nandigram, where I defeated the chief minister. The job is to unite them statewide," he said.

Hitting out sharply at the CM and referring to his switching over to the saffron camp ahead of the 2019 LS polls amid sharp differences with the Banerjee's nephew and TMC's perceived second in command Abhishek Banerjee, Adhikari said, "I quit the TMC when Didi (sister) became Pishi (Aunt)".

"The people of Malda hate the TMC because they are thieves. The party secured no leads in any of the assembly seats in the previous general elections," he claimed.

Adhikari promised better welfare schemes for the people if the BJP comes to power in Bengal, saying that the TMC is spreading lies that the 'Lokkhir bhandar' scheme for giving monetary support to women will be stopped by the saffron party.

He said that despite opposition by Mamata Banerjee, the Waqf (Amendment) Act has been implemented in the state.

Maintaining that the BJP wanted peace to prevail in the state, he alleged that the TMC leadership was indulging in divisive politics and appeasement of Muslims for votes.

"BJP speaks of giving to Bengal industries like in Gujarat and good governance like that in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," Adhikari said.

Adhikari announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Malda after Makar Sankranti in mid-January. PTI AMR RG SMY MNB