Kolkata, March 28
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has accused West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress government of allowing illegal infiltration and failing to protect the state’s border interests, as the BJP sharpened its campaign ahead of the assembly election. At a press conference on Saturday, Shah released what he called a “charge sheet” against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s government, alleging that after 15 years of TMC rule, West Bengal had become the country’s “principal corridor” for infiltration because of “appeasement politics, corruption and political violence”.
He said the election was “important not only for Bengal but for the entire country”, arguing that national security was closely linked to the outcome of the vote. In one of his strongest attacks, Amit Shah said the security of the Siliguri corridor — the narrow stretch linking India’s northeast to the rest of the country — was under threat because of what he described as the TMC’s vote-bank politics.He also accused Ms Banerjee of playing the “victim card”, saying she was trying to turn the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls into a political issue in order to protect the TMC’s minority vote base.
“The Special Intensive Revision has taken place in other states too, but nowhere has it been made such an issue,” he said, adding that criticism of constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission was “not part of Bengali culture”.
Amit Shah further alleged that the state government had repeatedly failed to provide land needed for fencing along the Bangladesh border, despite requests from the Centre. He claimed this was intended to preserve what he called a “vote bank of infiltrators”. Turning the issue into an election promise, the BJP leader said that if his party comes to power in West Bengal, it would provide the required land to the Centre within 45 days and move to stop infiltration.
He also signalled that the BJP would make the electoral rolls a central campaign issue, saying the party would seek the removal of “infiltrators” from voter lists and, more broadly, from the country.
Framing the 2026 election as a stark political choice, Shah said Bengal had to choose “between fear and trust”, accusing the TMC of ruling through “fear, corruption and appeasement politics”. The remarks mark a clear attempt by the BJP to shift the campaign focus from development promises to border security, immigration and law-and-order concerns as it seeks to unseat Ms Banerjee in the state.
