Murshidabad riots were state-sponsored: Shah

Kolkata | Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched a blistering attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of "stooping low" by opposing Operation Sindoor and the Wakf Amendment Bill to appease the Muslim vote bank, and alleged that the Murshidabad riots were "state-sponsored".

Addressing party leaders and workers in Kolkata, Shah gave a clarion call to uproot the TMC government from power in the 2026 assembly elections.

"The tenure of Mamata Banerjee as the CM will end in 2026. The BJP will uproot this TMC government in the next elections. To appease the Muslim vote bank, Mamata didi opposed Operation Sindoor. By doing so, she is insulting the mothers and sisters of this country. You have not only opposed the military operation, but you have also played with the lives of crores of mothers and sisters," Shah claimed.

The home minister said he has come to Bengal to "appeal to the women of the state and explain the value of sindoor (vermilion) to those who are against Operation Sindoor". Shah claimed the mothers and sisters of Bengal would teach Banerjee and her party a lesson in 2026 for opposing the military strike, launched in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack in April that left several tourists, including some from Bengal, dead.

Banerjee had recently accused the Centre of politicising Operation Sindoor for electoral gains.

Responding to the allegation, Shah said, "During previous regimes in which Mamata didi was also a minister, no steps were taken to deal firmly with terror attacks. But our PM Narendra Modi took firm measures against terror attacks. But Mamata didi has a problem with it."

For the sake of her vote bank, Mamata didi has "crossed all limits of stooping low", he alleged.

"Pakistan-backed terrorists killed our innocent citizens in front of their families after asking them about their religion. Operation Sindoor was carried out to punish these terrorists. The headquarters of the terrorists were destroyed by entering Pakistan. However, Mamata didi was pained over the death of these terrorists. She opposed Operation Sindoor by issuing a cheap political statement," he claimed.

Shah asserted that the Centre had launched a "deep strike 100 km into Pakistan, targeting terrorist headquarters. "Numerous terrorists were killed, but this seems to trouble Mamata ji. By doing so, you are not only opposed to the mission but also disregard the sentiments and emotions of the women of our country," he alleged.

Referring to the killing of tourists from the state in the Pahalgam attack, Shah claimed, "When tourists from Bengal were killed in the assault, Mamata didi remained silent, but now she is having problems with Operation Sindoor."

Turning his attention to the Murshidabad violence that erupted during protests over the contentious Waqf Amendment Act, Shah alleged that it was "state-sponsored". "The way a TMC minister incited the violence, it can be said that the Murshidabad riots were state-sponsored, which caused injustice to the Hindus...Mamata Banerjee's minister abused the BSF, and the party's leaders were standing there and encouraging the rioters," he claimed.

"If BSF personnel had been deployed, Hindus would have been protected. It was only after BJP workers approached the high court that the BSF was finally sent in," Shah said.

Sharpening his attack on the state of affairs under Banerjee's rule, Shah alleged, "Today, Mamata Didi has turned the great Bangla land into a centre of infiltration, corruption, atrocities on women, crime, bomb blasts and mistreatment of Hindus."

"Mamata Banerjee is opposing the Waqf Amendment Act for appeasement politics...What is wrong with the Waqf Act? Should the land of Bengal be sacrificed because of Waqf," he claimed, adding that the Act was necessary to end corruption and irregularities in Waqf properties.

The home minister also accused the ruling TMC of facilitating illegal cross-border movement from Bangladesh.

"The Bengal elections will not only decide the future of the state, but it is also linked to the security of the country. Mamata Banerjee has left Bengal's borders open for Bangladeshis. Infiltration is taking place with her blessings. Only the BJP government can stop this," he claimed.

On erecting fences along the border, he alleged, "Mamata Ji, we had requested you for land to construct a fence along the India-Bangladesh border, which would have effectively curbed infiltration. But you deliberately withheld the required land. Why? To ensure infiltration continues and your vote bank expands."

Taking a swipe at the TMC over the teachers' recruitment scam, Shah said, "Jobs of the youth are sold in the markets of Kolkata. So much money of the TMC has been seized from its leaders' homes that even machines became tired of counting currency."

He also attacked Banerjee for allegedly prioritising her nephew's political future over national interest.

Shah, who served as the BJP's national president from 2014 to 2020, recalled the party's rise in Bengal. "In the 2021 assembly elections, we won 77 seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was ahead in 97 assembly segments, and in 143 seats, we secured over 40 per cent of the votes," Shah claimed.

He took a dig at the TMC, claiming that "without the use of violence, even Mamata Didi would lose her deposits in the elections."

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh absent from Amit Shah's public meeting in Kolkata

Kolkata | Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh was conspicuous by his absence from the BJP's organisational meeting, in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah was present, here on Sunday.

This was the second time in less than a week when the ex-MP and former state BJP chief was absent from a programme of a top BJP leader, the other being the public meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Alipurduar in northern West Bengal on May 29.

Ghosh had met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the inauguration of the newly built Jagannath Temple in Purba Medinipur's Digha, which triggered a major row as several BJP leaders accused him of cosying up to the TMC supremo and betraying the sentiments of party rank and file.

Though Ghosh had maintained that he had every right to visit a place of worship and none could question his integrity and credentials as a BJP loyalist, the controversy refused to die down and the former state unit president was not invited to any programme of the party later on.

"No, I have not been invited to Amit ji's programme on June 1. It doesn't matter. There are some people who are always seen with party heavyweights. When I was the state president, I used to accompany leaders like Amit ji to their programmes. Now, I would rather be with the party rank and file and work with the karyakartas," he told reporters on Saturday.

Before Modi's public meeting on May 29, Ghosh had similarly said he was not invited by the state BJP leadership.

On Sunday, Ghosh, accompanied by his wife Rinku Majumdar, went to his in-laws' residence.

Speaking to reporters there, he said, "It is not mandatory or essential to invite me to every meeting. I may be invited to some meeting and may not be to some others."

Asked about Ghosh's absence from key party programmes, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar told reporters, "Dilip da is a veteran leader. I can't really comment on his absence."

Attacks on people during Murshidabad riots will be avenged: Bengal LoP

Kolkata | Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday asserted that attacks on people during Murshidabad riots will be avenged and the party will "teach a lesson" to those who conspired to kill people.

Accusing the Trinamool Congress government of "silently watching" as large-scale arson and armed attacks on Hindus were taking place in Dhulian, Samserganj and other areas of the district in April, he said, "Had the Border Security Force (BSF) not stepped in to save the lives and properties of people, most of them Hindus, the district could have witnessed a worse situation."

"The state did not call the BSF while its police force fled the scene or saw the burning and looting from a distance. It was the Union Home Ministry which made the deployment of BSF possible as we moved the Calcutta High Court," the leader of the opposition in the state assembly said.

Adhikari was addressing the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp Rally' at Netaji Indoor Stadium in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

"Amit Shah ji brought peace in the riot-hit areas of Murshidabad by deploying BSF in a prompt manner and saved lives," he said.

"We will avenge the attacks on people, mostly Hindus, in those areas at an appropriate time. Every act of atrocity, armed attack, every incident of murder will be accounted for," he said.

He said Shah was instrumental in granting citizenship under CAA to those Hindus who were forced to flee neighbouring countries and cited the example of the widow of Pahalgam terror attack victim Bitan Adhilkari in Kolkata.

"Once her case was brought to the notice of Amit ji, it was addressed as early as possible. Don't be despondent over the non-cooperation of the state administration. We are there to address your concerns if the case is genuine," he said.

Echoing Adhikari, BJP's state unit president Sukanta Majumdar said, "If TMC activists carry out atrocities on our workers, they will face the same treatment when we come to power."

"Didi (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) has become scared of my call for Operation Bengal which will be unleashed by our party activists and not by the army," he added.

Referring to the SSC scam, he said, "During our reign, we will conduct SSC recruitment tests every year and every candidate will be given a copy of the OMR sheet."

Assembly elections are due in West Bengal early next year.