Don’t mistake BJP’s calm for weakness, warns Samik

MP, May 8, 2026, Kolkata: State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, on Thursday, stated that the BJP’s restraint should not be mistaken as its weakness.

Speaking about the murder of Chandranath Rath, a close aide of Suvendu Adhikari, and also the post-poll violence, he said: “If someone thinks that he or she can hit a lion that is calm and docile, they will be mistaken,” he said.

Bhattacharya once again stated that the BJP will take action against party workers found involved in any violence. He also reminded that a section of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers were carrying out attacks on their own party office with BJP flags in hand.

“If anybody from BJP is involved in violence, he will expel them from the party after reaching the party office on Thursday itself,” Bhattacharya asserted.

He also linked the killing of Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant to a broader pattern of post-poll violence, pointing to the recent deaths of three BJP workers and another in Basirhat who was shot at.

Describing the Barasat-Madhyamgram border as a “sensitive zone”, prone to serious criminal activity, including the alleged forging of Aadhaar, ration and voter ID cards used by infiltrators during the TMC rule, the state BJP president issued a stern warning to troublemakers.

“Was the incident carried out to send a message to the PM? Or was it aimed to deliver a blow to the BJP? Rath was never a political person. When there is a change of guard in power, the situation remains heated. We urged the police to take stern action,” Bhattacharya added.

Meanwhile, reacting to the May 7 meeting in Kolkata between Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Bhattacharya dismissed its political significance.

“Zero plus zero is equal to zero. Zero minus zero is also zero,” he remarked.