West Bengal: Border fencing, Anandapur fire fuel Amit Shah’s fiery attack on TMC amid second state visit in two months

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) rhetoric of protecting West Bengal from infiltrators was the resounding message during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s second visit in two months, a sign that the saffron party means serious business of capturing CM Mamata Banerjee’s turf.

On infiltration and border fencing

Hitting out at the CM while accusing her of shielding infiltrators to consolidate her votebank, Shah emphasised the Calcutta High Court (HC) ruling of the state government handing over land to the Border Security Force (BSF) for fencing Indo-Bangladesh borders.

“Calcutta High Court has asked the state to give BSF land before March 31st. Mamata has no interest in stopping infiltrators. This is a big jolt to Mamata Banerjee. Don’t think that after the High Court judgement Mamata will give the land to BSF, because infiltrators are Mamata’s vote bank. But whether Mamata does give or not give the land by March 31st, BJP will shut all borders by April when they form the government,” said a confident Amit Shah at Barrackpore in the North 24 Parganas district, while referring to the BJP-ruled Assam where infiltration has reportedly reduced due to the saffron party’s efforts.

Shah’s next stop was Siliguri in North Bengal.

While addressing the BJP’s North Bengal supporters, Shah asked:

“Can Mamata Didi wipe out infiltrators? Our tribal MPs are beaten up. Be it Rajbanshis, Kurmis, Adivasis, people of Bihar, Gorkhas or people of Bengal. In your rule Mamata Didi, people are not secure.”

The Union Home Minister reiterated that he had visited Mamata’s office and had even written letters to her, but land was still not given to the BSF.

“Whether you give land or not, BJP government will hand over land to BSF in 45 days," said Shah, pointing out that Mamata was scared the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) would shield infiltrators.

Shah next brought up Trinamool Congress (TMC) making Vande Mataram a big issue in the Parliament. 

“Our infiltrator vote bank is angry, that is why we are opposing Vande Mataram. You should be ashamed, Mamata Banerjee, for opposing Vande Mataram. In 2026 people will size you up,” said Shah.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee lashed out at the BJP on the infiltration issue.

“BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Jagannath Sarkar said if BJP comes to power, BJP will remove the Bangladesh border. These are not my words, these are Jagannath Sarkar’s words. Did Amit Shah show cause Jagannath Sarkar? If Amit Shah is right, he should show cause Jagannath Sarkar,” said Banerjee.

On the Anandapur warehouse fire

The BJP is also using the recent Anandapur warehouse fire—which claimed at least 25 lives so far with many more people missing—questioning that the owner of Wow! Momo was being shielded by cohorts in the TMC government and not being arrested.

So far, three arrests have been made in the case, including the owner of both the warehouse and godown which caught fire, as well as the manager and deputy manager of Wow! Momo.

Shah hit out at Mamata for not empathising with families of the deceased.

“I want to ask Mamata ... if it was infiltrators, would your reaction be the same? People of Bengal have died and you should be ashamed for doing vote bank politics,” added Shah while hitting out at state Fire and Emergency services Minister Sujit Bose for allegedly reaching the spot 32 hours later.      

The TMC reacted sharply to Shah’s comments.

“BJP’s politics is politics of division; politics of hatred. No one should politicise an unfortunate incident. Everyone irrespective of caste, creed and religion should unite. I ask everyone to join hands to help the administration ensure such incidents are not repeated in future,” said Abhishek Banerjee at the Kolkata airport while leaving for Delhi to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Monday (along with Mamata) over the SIR issue.   

“If Mamata Banerjee is responsible for the death of 25 people in Anandapur, then the Prime Minister and Home Minister is also responsible for the death of 140 people with regard to SIR. Because BJP wanted to implement SIR. They are the ones who wanted to impose SIR on the people of Bengal,” Banerjee added.

On corruption and development

Shah went on to speak about corruption while referring to various scams like School Service Commission (SSC), cattle smuggling, MNREGA, and PM Awas Yojna.

“Mamata ji there is Rs 1000 crore scam which you cannot see because you have been blinded by cataract to see your nephew as the Chief Minister. You should do a cataract operation to see clearly,” Shah went on, claiming that the people of Bengal were fed up of corruption.

“Does money not go into the hands of TMC goons? Should such a government continue?” he questioned further.

The Union Home Minister’s North Bengal speech was also laced with references to developmental projects like the AIIMS hospital, the new airport in North Bengal, and a railway project—all which he alleged were stalled by the TMC government.

Shah also spoke about jobs for the youth of North Bengal.

The message was clear—that going beyond a common narrative, the BJP appears confident of winning 28 of 28 seats in its stronghold of North Bengal.

On the BJP’s ballot box dreams  

The BJP is confident of coming to power with a majority and getting close to a 45 per cent vote share, citing statistics of earlier Lok Sabha and Assembly elections that ultimately took its toll from 2 to 77 seats in the state over the last five elections.

Shah was vocal about the saffron party not being satisfied with a ruling in 21 states and about ambitions of taking over Bengal as the 22nd state under their rule, as part of the shradhananjali (tribute) given by the people of Bengal.

TMC's Banerjee scoffed at Shah’s confidence and said that in the last Assembly elections too, BJP had said that they would cross 200 seats.

“They will say this, it is their way of motivating people. There is no problem, but I said whatever you do, you cannot weaken Trinamool Congress. You come every five years, we bring our report card every year. What have you done for Bengal?” questioned Abhishek Banerjee.

Apart from public rallies, Shah also held organisational meetings with workers of the Kolkata and other district units, with the intention of understanding worker sentiments and emphasising the need for party workers to work in unity to end the TMC’s three-term rule and take over the reins of the 22nd state under the saffron party’s control.