Amit Shah's message to Mamata: 'You can't stop us, BJP will form govt in West Bengal in 2026'

Months after the setback in Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that the BJP will form the next government in West Bengal in 2026. In West Bengal, the BJP's Lok Sabha tally dropped from 18 in 2019 to 12 in 2024. Shah said the TMC may celebrate for now, but it cannot stop the saffron party in 2024. 

"You may be happy for now, seeing the (Lok Sabha) results. But when we enter the electoral battlefield, with new blood, new energy, new members, and the chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Jai Shri Ram, you won’t be able to stop us. In 2026, the BJP government will be formed here," the home minister said at the inauguration of BJP's membership drive in Kolkata. 

BJP's top strategist said that after Lok Sabha results, Mamata Banerjee thinks the saffron party has weakened. He said his aim was to make West Bengal a BJP bastion and that his party will come to power in 2026 by two-third majority. "Mamata didi should not think that we are sitting idle as we had got a few seats in Bengal." 

Shah also accused the TMC government in West Bengal of being involved in the "state-sponsored infiltration" and corruption, and claimed that incidents of assault on women in Sandeshkhali and the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar hospital were pieces of evidence that women are "not safe" in the state. 

"In Bengal, state-sponsored infiltration must be stopped. Joining the BJP in Bengal means joining the mission to free the state from the grip of communists and Mamata Didi. This is a border state, and with the way infiltration is being supported at a state level, there is only one solution: a BJP government in 2026. To combat cow and coal smuggling, we need to enlist one crore BJP members in West Bengal," he added.

The home minister also slammed the INDIA bloc, saying it was daydreaming and that the BJP would also form government in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. "Rahul 'Baba' and his company (INDIA alliance) which also includes Mamata Banerjee. They were daydreaming and BJP won the elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. BJP formed the government in Haryana for the third time in a row and we will also form the government in Jharkhand and Maharashtra." 

"After the results of the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul 'Baba' was saying in Parliament that we had defeated them. I want to tell 'Rahul Baba' that whoever loses the election sits in the opposition and whoever wins takes oath as the Prime Minister of the country. They were mocking us after we won 240 seats, even if they combine the seats they won in 2014, 2019 and 2024, their total is less than 240. BJP's next target is to form the government in West Bengal in 2026."