As Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday termed her government a ‘Nirmam Sarkar’ (cruel government) and another BJP heavyweight in West Bengal called for an operation on the line of ‘Operation Sindoor’ to oust her from power, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dared the saffron party to advance the state polls and try its luck.
Mamata alleged that Modi and the BJP were politicising the ‘Operation Sindoor’, India’s May 7 military offensives against terrorist camps in Pakistan and areas under illegal occupation of Pakistan, although all the opposition parties, including her Trinamool Congress, stood by the Union Government against cross-border terror after the April 22 carnage in Jammu and Kashmir.
She also alleged that the prime minister had halted India’s military offensives against Pakistan after the intervention by the United States.
“As I am standing on the sacred land of ‘Sindoor Khela’, it is only right that we speak about a new resolve against terrorism, ‘Operation Sindoor’,” the prime minister said while addressing a rally at Alipurduar in West Bengal – a rally the BJP planned to add momentum to its preparations to pose a formidable challenge to the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state assembly elections in April-May next year.
Modi sought to draw a cultural link between ‘Operation Sindoor’ and the ‘Sindoor Khela’ ritual of Bengali Hindu women rubbing vermilion on the faces of each other on the last day of the annual Durga Puja festival.
“From this land of Bengal, I, on behalf of 140 crore Indians, declare that ‘Operation Sindoor’ is not over yet,” Modi said, adding that India would exact a heavy price on Pakistan in case of another terrorist attack.
Modi also targeted the TMC government in West Bengal. “Look at what happened in Murshidabad and Malda. These were clear examples of the government’s cruelty. In the name of appeasement, lawlessness was allowed to flourish. Hooligans had a free run, while the police stood by as mute spectators and did nothing,” he said, referring to the communal clashes triggered by the violence during protests against the new Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, in West Bengal.
“Today, West Bengal is grappling with a series of crises. People don’t want ‘nirmam sarkar’ (cruel government). They want change and good governance. That is why the people of (West) Bengal are saying they don’t want cruelty and corruption anymore,” the prime minister said.
With Modi on the podium, Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP chief and a union minister, drew a parallel between the killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, at Baisaran near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir by a gang of Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists on April 22 and the violence during the protest against the new law in Murshidabad and other places in West Bengal. “Thousands of BJP workers, the soldiers of Modi Ji, will also launch Operation Paschim Banga like the Operation Sindoor, oust the TMC from power and throw it in the Bay of Bengal,” said Majumdar.
Mamata reacted strongly, terming the statements of Modi and the other BJP leaders as “shocking” and “unfortunate”. “He (Modi) and his party leaders have suggested ‘Operation Bengal’ like Operation Sindoor at a time when the entire opposition is representing the country on the world stage (to espouse India’s resolute stance against terrorism sponsored by Pakistan),” she told journalists in Kolkata.
Her heir apparent and the TMC general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, has joined one of the all-party delegations, which the BJP-led Union Government sent around the world to convey India’s policy of zero-tolerance against terrorism and to expose Pakistan’s role in supporting the menace.
“I challenge them (the BJP)…If they have the courage, they should hold elections in the state tomorrow. We are ready and West Bengal is ready…The people of West Bengal are with us,” she said.
