‘To win Bengal, BJP will sacrifice….’: Mamata Banerjee's BIG claim ahead of 2026 polls | WATCH

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched one of her sharpest attacks yet on the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging the ruling party at the Centre is “ready to sacrifice Gujarat to capture Bengal” and has deployed “fraudulent tactics” to influence upcoming elections.

Addressing a massive protest rally against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Banerjee claimed the BJP’s recent landslide victory in Bihar was the result of “manipulation” and accused the party of weaponising poll machinery, voter-list revisions, and last-minute sops to tilt electoral outcomes. 

“I am making this prediction… the BJP is going to be defeated in Gujarat. To win Bengal, they will lose Gujarat,” Banerjee declared. Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has remained a BJP bastion for over three decades. In the 2022 Assembly polls, the party won 156 of 182 seats with nearly 50% vote share. 

Banerjee, who has led the Trinamool Congress to three successive wins over the BJP in Bengal—2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly polls—warned that next year’s Bengal poll will be her toughest fight, with the BJP entering the contest bolstered by gains in Delhi and Bihar.

She accused the BJP of shifting strategy by targeting Trinamool’s grassroots workers. The TMC, along with several opposition parties, has also flagged the ongoing SIR exercise as part of what they call the BJP’s “new election-winning playbook”, alleging the mass deletion of voters belonging to marginalised communities under the guise of removing “ghuspathiyas” (infiltrators).

“Why is the SIR being carried out so hurriedly, just months before elections? Take three years, we will help you,” the Chief Minister said, echoing the Congress' criticism. “If illegal immigrants have lived in border districts for so long, who controls the international border? Airports and customs are under the central government.”

Banerjee also mounted a scathing attack on the Election Commission, calling it the “BJP Commission”, a charge similar to those made repeatedly by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

She raised concerns about the increasing reports of stress-related deaths among booth-level officers (BLOs) involved in the SIR process. “Three BLOs have died due to lack of proper training under SIR. The lady BLO who committed suicide in Noida left a note blaming the EC,” she said. Similar incidents have been reported from states including Gujarat.

Banerjee reiterated: “As long as I am here, I will not allow them to throw you out.”