West Bengal elections 2026: ‘Fire doesn’t choose home it burns,’ Mamata warns BJP

KOLKATA/ARAMBAGH: Mamata Banerjee drew a direct parallel between the SIR voter deletions in Bengal and the NRC exercise in Assam, saying at an election rally in Hooghly's Arambagh on Wednesday that BJP had failed to learn from that experience.

"In the guise of deleting voters, they are conspiring to implement the NRC. We will never let this sinister plan succeed. Don't forget, 19 lakh people in Assam bore the brunt of NRC six years ago — 13 lakh were Bengali Hindus and six lakh were Bengali Muslims. BJP's tail is on fire trying to delete voters of Trinamool, minorities and women. I want to tell them that once a fire starts, it does not choose the home it burns down — it burns everything," she said. Banerjee also addressed rallies at Balagarh and Serampore in Hooghly.x





Targeting the Election Commission, Banerjee alleged it was acting in concert with BJP and questioned the tendering process for webcams being installed in polling booths. "BJP doesn't have the support of the people. They have hired agencies to put up posters, and agencies are used to fill their rallies. Since they won't be able to provide agents in every booth, the EC has decided to install webcams in booths. Who got the tender? How was it done? Mota Bhai (referring to the Union home minister), would you care to answer? You may threaten people as much as you want, but you only have one month left to do these things," she warned.

On the deletions, Banerjee said every community had been targeted. "The situation in which the election is happening in Bengal is truly unfortunate. Countless electors have been deliberately deleted. Women have been targeted. In fact, families that once served Mota Bhai now find themselves struck off the voters' list. In my constituency, they have deleted around 62,000 votes. But remember, even if there is only one vote left, Trinamool will get it," she said.

Taking aim at BJP's vision of "Sonar Bangla," she said: "The problem is that everything in this country has been sold, as if a Chaitra Sale is going on. Officers who were working for the development of Bengal were changed — they thought they could replace them with those inclined towards BJP. However, since these officers will continue to work in Bengal in the coming days, I believe they will work without bias. In the name of SIR, they have destroyed the lives of many. They have targeted Bengal and hatched many conspiracies. All your conspiracies will fail. If you wish to build Sonar Bangla, then why are you lynching the people of Bengal? Why are you preventing people from eating fish, meat and eggs? Why have you deleted the names of women, STs, SCs, minorities and Hindus?"

Urging party unity, Banerjee reminded workers that she was the face of all 294 Trinamool candidates. "I urge all my candidates to work unitedly. Not everyone can be a candidate. The workers of Trinamool are the most important to me. Netas must listen to the public. Remember, I am the candidate in all 294 seats. If you want the govt to be headed by me, then vote for TMC. Nobody will be sent to detention camps. We will not let NRC be implemented. BJP should remember that since they have targeted us, we will first defeat them in Bengal and then dethrone them in Delhi as well," she said.
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