KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah hours after he claimed that the BJP would form the state government with a two-thirds majority in the next Assembly elections.
Reacting sharply to Shah’s assertion, the Trinamool Congress supremo, while addressing a party rally in Bankura district, said, “You must resign. You, the home minister of the country, must resign. You are saying that you (BJP) will win Assembly polls in Bengal with two-third majority. But why don’t you utter this time ‘Aab ki baar/200 paar (we will cross 200 seats in coming elections)’?”
During the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP had repeatedly used the slogan ‘Aab ki baar/200 paar’.
“We will come to power in Bengal again in 2026 and drive you out democratically from the country,” the Trinamool Congress supremo said.
On various earlier occasions, Banerjee has demanded the resignation of the Union home minister over different issues, including the terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.
Protesting against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, she has also launched scathing attacks on Shah for allegedly masterminding the exercise.
However, on Tuesday, the Bengal chief minister demanded Shah’s resignation specifically over his confident claim that the saffron party would win the Bengal Assembly polls with an absolute majority.
Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Shah alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government was abetting the "infiltration of Bangladeshis," which he claimed had “dangerously altered” the state’s demography over the past few years.
“We will not only identify infiltrators, but we will also drive them out. Bengal will have a new BJP government after April 15, 2026, as people have made up their minds,” he said, alleging that the state government had not allotted land along the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal for fencing.
“Now, we are seeing how they are applying balm to heal the ulcer caused by their appeasement politics in Bengal. But it will not work at all,” Shah added.
Denying the charges, Banerjee said, “How could you do the work of fencing if we don’t give you land along Ghozadanga, Chayangrabandha and Raiganj along the border? It is the responsibility of the BSF to prevent infiltration into Bengal. Why don’t they do their duty? You must resign as the home minister of the country.”
The Trinamool Congress also hit back at the Union home minister, accusing him of allegedly peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims about securing a two-thirds majority in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
State Education Minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah’s remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
“Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose,” Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.