High on historic landslide Bihar victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening announced his next target - West Bengal where elections are due early next year. “The river Ganga flows to Bengal via Bihar. Bihar has also paved the way for the BJP’s victory in Bengal,” he said, as thousands of BJP party workers cheered. Like every election victory, BJP top brass hat met at the headquarters in New Delhi where PM Modi addressed the euphoric workers. He further vowed: “Together we will uproot jungle raj from West Bengal as well.”
Fight against “Jungle raj” - is the call that PM Modi gave in Bihar after ‘Mahagatbandhan’ announced Tejashwi Yadav, son of former Chief Minister and RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav as their chief ministerial face. BJP has always accused Lalu’s regime as one that exemplifies the worst ear of lawlessness in Bihar, one that came under check after the change in regime following JD-U Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister in the state back in 2005 for the first time. PM Modi described the Bihar win as more than a regional triumph, portraying it as a launch‐pad for the BJP’s campaign in the eastern state, equating the government of Mamata Banerjee with Lalu’s ‘jungle raj’.
BJP has been eyeing for Bengal since 2019 saffron surge in Lok Sabha elections in the state. In 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP surprised everyone after winning 18 seats - a jump from just two in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. But Mamata Banerjee reversed that surge and came back to power in 2021 with a thumping majority for the third time as the chief minister of Bengal, defying the high voltage campaign by BJP in the 8 phase elections in the state. BJP since then has only face one defeat after another in every subsequent election in the state - including panchayat polls and by-polls. But in 2024 Lok Sabha election, TMC brought down BJP from 18 to 12 seats in Bengal.
Trinamool Congress has reacted sharply to PM Modi’s jibe and called it BJP’s day dream. “BJP might have won Bihar but that victory will have no bearing on Bengal elections”, TMC Spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. TMC, taking the fight on digital platform, shared memes and photos of Skelton that has turned into fossil “waiting for a win in Bengal”.
