The BJP on Thursday responded strongly to Mamata Banerjee's 'Dushasan' jibe at Amit Shah – a significant remark before an Assembly election next year in which women voters will, again, play a key role – by calling the Chief Minister the 'Dushasan' and 'Duryodhan' of West Bengal.
A rush of Bharatiya Janata Party voices, from spokesperson Sambit Patra to Maldaha Uttar Lok Sabha MP Khagen Murmu, accused the Trinamool Congress boss of having 'threatened' the Home Minister, whose three-day visit to the state to review poll preparations ends this evening.
Patra led the charge with threats of his own, declaring Mamata Banerjee was 'fortunate' the BJP had 'allowed' her to leave the hotel at which she held a press conference. "If we wanted, you would not have been able to step outside… you are fortunate we allowed you to leave," he raged.
"You are not threatening Amit Shah… you are threatening India," he said and predicted the BJP –which has lost three consecutive major elections to Banerjee and her Trinamool – will, this time, form the government in the eastern state with a two-thirds majority.
“This is Hitler-sahi and tanasahi,” Patra alleged.
The criticism came from across the border too; Bihar minister Dilip Jaiswal picked on Mamata Banerjee's threat to 'gherao', or surround, the Election Commission's Delhi office – over the contentious Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls – and declared, "Mamata Banerjee has lost her mind."
Kolkata, West Bengal: BJP MP Raju Bista says, "Look at the way Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is using disrespectful words against Home Minister Amit Shah. It doesn't look good for a Chief Minister to use such words. However, BJP could also respond in similar words, but that is… pic.twitter.com/Sg07e93xMn
— IANS (@ians_india) December 31, 2025
Amit Shah himself, though, has not yet reacted.
The furore began with Mamata Banerjee responding to Shah's jabs about illegal foreign nationals, mostly from Bangladesh, and who are allegedly cultivated by the Trinamool as vote banks. He also claimed she had ignored seven letters for allotment of sufficient land to fence the border.
RECAP | Amit Shah, Mamata Banerjee Trade Pre-Election Jabs Over SIR, Infiltration
The BJP and the Election Commission - accused of colluding to manipulate poll results - have argued the revision of voter lists before the election will weed out such individuals. Banerjee, though, warned of genuine voters – specifically those from Muslim communities – being struck off on this pretext.
It was in this context that she said the EC's Delhi office would be 'gheraoed', i.e., in case of poll fraud.
"Infiltration is an extremely serious issue… considering the demography in the state is changing because of the menace. Unless this is checked immediately, the suffering of the people of Bengal will increase manifold in the coming days," Shah said.
The Chief Minister responded by calling Shah 'Dushasan' – the character in Hindu epic 'Mahabharat'– and criticised the BJP and him over the voter re-verification exercise. And responding to an accusation that Bengal had become a "hub" for terrorists, she fired back: “If there are no terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, how did Pahalgam happen? Who was behind the incident that happened in Delhi?”
On the land allotment charge the Chief Minister hit back, "They are saying 'Mamata hasn't given land'! Who has done all the development work? We have. If I didn't give land, how would they extract coal in Bengal? We have given land. Only big talks and lies."
With input from agencies
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