Amit Shah releases 'charge sheet' against TrinamoolCongress govt, says Bengal polls key to nation’s security

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PTI, KOLKATA, MARCH 28, 2026 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday sharpened the BJP's campaign pitch for the West Bengal Assembly polls, releasing a "charge sheet" against the TMC government and framing the election as a battle not merely for Bengal, but for the country's security.

Launching a broadside against the Mamata Banerjee government at a press conference here, Shah alleged that after 15 years of the TMC rule, West Bengal had become the country's "principal corridor" for infiltration due to "TMC's appeasement politics, corruption and political violence".

In a state where Mamata, the TMC supremo, has often capitalised her image of a besieged streetfighter, Shah sought to puncture that narrative first.

"Mamata Didi has always played the politics of the victim card. Sometimes she talks about her injury, sometimes she abuses the Election Commission. But the people of Bengal now understand Mamata Didi's victim-card politics very well," he said.

Hitting out at the TMC supremo over her opposition to the Election Commission's SIR exercise, the Home Minister accused her of manufacturing outrage to protect her party's "minority vote bank".

"The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has taken place in other states too, but nowhere has it been made such an issue. It has been made an issue in Bengal only because Mamata Banerjee wants to protect her vote bank. Abusing constitutional bodies like the Election Commission is not part of Bengali culture," Shah said.

Claiming that infiltration through Assam had "almost come to an end" after the BJP came to power there, Shah alleged that West Bengal has now emerged as the "last remaining route through which infiltrators enter India and disperse across states".

"The Bengal election is important not only for Bengal but for the entire country. The security of the entire country is, in a way, linked to the Bengal election," Shah said.

He claimed that illegal immigration through the borders of West Bengal had become a matter of concern for national security.

In one of his sharpest attacks, Shah said the security of the strategically crucial Siliguri corridor — the narrow strip linking the Northeast to the rest of India — was being endangered "because of the TMC government's appeasement politics".

"Due to appeasement and vote-bank politics of the TMC government, the security of the Siliguri corridor is being threatened," he said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress slammed the Home Minister with a counter to his "charge sheet", accusing the BJP of trying to polarise the people of poll-bound West Bengal and evade accountability for its own record on a host of issues, including women's safety.

Hours after Shah's press conference here, the incumbent TMC questioned the BJP-led Centre over the prolonged violence in Manipur, women's safety in BJP-ruled states and the Centre's handling of illegal immigration.

Senior TMC leaders Mahua Moitra, Bratya Basu and Kirti Azad held a joint press conference where the trio targeted the Union Home Minister over his criticism of the TMC government on women's safety.

"Amit Shah is talking about women's security. What is the condition of women's safety in BJP-ruled states? Shah should first answer about violence in Manipur, which has bled continuously for the past three years," TMC MP Moitra said.

"BJP rules at the Centre. It rules 15 states and most border states through which infiltration is happening. Amit Shah himself is the Union Home Minister. So what exactly has he been waiting for," senior TMC leader Bratya Basu said.

Questioning the Centre's claims on infiltration, the state education minister asked why the Union Home Ministry had "failed" to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

"Why has the BJP-controlled Election Commission failed to release the names of foreign nationals found on the electoral rolls," he asked.

The Home Minister alleged that despite repeated requests by the Centre, the Mamata Banerjee government had not provided the land required for fencing along the Bangladesh border.

“The Trinamool government has not provided land for erecting fences in bordering areas, despite several attempts to convince the state government. This is because the Trinamool wants to create a vote bank of infiltrators,” he alleged.

In an attempt to turn border fencing into an election promise, Shah said that if the BJP comes to power in Bengal, it would hand over the required land to the Centre within 45 days.

“On May 6, the BJP government will be formed in West Bengal, and within 45 days, the land required for fencing the border will be provided by the Bengal BJP government to the Centre, and we will stop infiltration,” he said.

The BJP leader also indicated that the party would make the purification of electoral rolls a key plank of its campaign.

“I want to ask the people of Bengal – should those infiltrators who have been allowed to stay here be given the right to vote? I want to make it clear from BJP’s side that we will not only remove infiltrators from the voter list, but we will remove each and every illegal immigrant from the country,” he said.

If the BJP’s 2021 campaign revolved around the promise of a “Sonar Bangla”, Shah’s latest pitch sought to recast the 2026 election as the choice between fear and trust.

“In the coming elections, Bengal has to choose between fear and trust. For the last 15 years, the rule of fear, corruption and appeasement politics has been going on in the state,” he alleged.

“Mamata Banerjee has created a new way of politics by using lies and violence to move her politics forward. The basis of TMC coming to power is lies, fear and violence. But since 2011, the BJP has been fighting against these,” Shah said.