Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a sharp, two-pronged attack on the ruling TMC, asserting that the first phase of West Bengal’s Assembly elections had confirmed a “wave of change” in favour of the BJP and marked the beginning of the end of the Mamata Banerjee-led government’s “maha jungle raj”.
Addressing back-to-back rallies in Panihati in Dum Dum and Baruipur in the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, Modi portrayed the nearly 92 percent turnout in Thursday’s polling as both an endorsement of the BJP’s call for regime change and a rejection of what he described as the TMC’s “dictatorship”, corruption and syndicate rule.
“The wave of change that had been visible in Bengal for a long time—yesterday’s first phase of voting has put its seal on it. The support shown in favour of the BJP has sounded the conch shell of the BJP’s victory,” he said.
Seeking to build a broader political narrative around the high turnout, Modi said voters had begun reclaiming democracy through the ballot after years of intimidation.
“In Bengal, where TMC had crushed the temple of democracy, where it had shattered democracy with its dictatorship, people in the first phase have reconstructed that temple. In the second phase, you have to unfurl the victory flag over this temple,” he said.
Claiming the TMC had been rattled by the turnout, Modi alleged, “This is why throughout last night, the TMC was empowering its goons to take to the field.” Escalating his attack, he added, “Yesterday’s first phase of voting has declared the end of TMC’s reign of jungle raj. On May 4, after the results are declared, TMC goons will have no place to hide. No one will be able to protect them.”
At Baruipur, he sharpened the pitch further, claiming the TMC might “not even be able to open its account” if the momentum seen in the first phase continued. “Now you must ensure a decisive defeat for TMC and a clear victory for the BJP,” he told the gathering.
Projecting the BJP as the preferred choice across social and professional groups, Modi said the scale of support for the party was unprecedented. “Since Independence, the nation has never witnessed anything like what the people of Bengal have demonstrated this time. Everywhere, the talk is about how much massive support the BJP has received in Bengal,” he said.
Framing the election as a larger ideological battle, Modi invoked Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and called for a “new revolution” through the ballot. “Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had called upon the nation to break the chains of slavery: ‘give me blood and I will give you freedom’. This is the time for a new revolution in Bengal. This revolution will happen with your one vote,” he said.
He said the BJP’s promise was to free Bengal from “years of hardship” by ensuring relief from fear, corruption, syndicate rule, atrocities against women, unemployment, forced migration and what he termed the growing pressure of infiltration.
“To restore Bengal’s pride once again, to make Bengal the land of opportunities again, this freedom is absolutely essential. TMC has destroyed Bengal’s identity. Infiltrators are being settled here. They are encroaching on land and taking away people’s livelihoods,” Modi alleged.
“On one side, there is TMC’s corruption and on the other, the pressure of infiltration,” he said, adding that many Bengalis were being forced to migrate in search of opportunities.
Accusing the ruling party of institutionalising corruption, Modi said, “In the last 15 years, TMC has only worked to loot Bengal. There is no sector left untouched by corruption,” citing alleged recruitment irregularities, chit fund frauds, coal and sand mining scams, ration distribution irregularities and the “cut money” culture.
Turning to the state’s economic trajectory, Modi said the TMC had “ruined” Bengal’s economy during its tenure. “People once came to Kolkata for employment. Today, migration of youth has become the biggest challenge here,” he said, alleging that industries, MSMEs and industrial hubs such as Dum Dum had weakened under “syndicate raj”.
At Jadavpur, he linked these allegations to local grievances, claiming syndicates controlled the supply of construction materials and that residents were forced to pay “protection money” even to build homes on their own land.
He also targeted the TMC over unrest at Jadavpur University, saying the institution had become a symbol of disorder and political intimidation. “Jadavpur University was once spoken of with great respect. The foundation of the campus was built on nationalism. But today, people are being threatened and students are being forced to protest. We do not want anarchy; we want a healthy academic environment,” he said.
Women’s safety and representation featured prominently in his campaign, with Modi describing the TMC as an “anti-women party” and highlighting the BJP’s “women-led development model”.
Referring to BJP’s Panihati candidate Ratna Debnath, the mother of the RG Kar Hospital rape-murder victim, Modi sought to turn the case into a political indictment of the ruling dispensation. “The mother who helped her daughter become a doctor, and whose daughter was taken away by TMC’s maha jungle raj—BJP has made that mother its candidate,” he said.
He added that the party had similarly given representation to women who had faced injustice, including a survivor from Sandeshkhali, while accusing the TMC of protecting the accused and silencing victims. “When the women of Bengal ask for justice, TMC tells them not to step out of their homes,” he alleged.
