"Suvendu Da Defeated Her In Her Home": Amit Shah Jabs Mamata Banerjee

Union Home Minister Amit Shah formally announced Suvendu Adhikari as the Chief Minister of West Bengal on Friday, following the party's victory in the state assembly elections that ended the Trinamool Congress's 15 years in power. Addressing a meeting of newly elected BJP MLAs and senior party leaders, Shah used the occasion to directly target outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with a pointed reference to her past remarks. 

"Suvendu da ne gat chunav mein didi ko Nandigram mein haraya tha. Maine didi ka ek interview dekha tha, woh keh rahi thi, 'main inke ghar mein ladne ke liye chali gayi'... Didi, iss baar toh Suvendu da ne aapke ghar mein aa kar hara diya. (Suvendu Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in the last elections. I saw an interview of Mamata Banerjee in which she said, 'I went to his house to fight'. Didi, this time Suvendu Adhikari came to your home and defeated you," Shah said. 

Adhikari, who defected from the Trinamool Congress in 2020, had previously defeated Banerjee in the Nandigram constituency in 2021. 

Shah used the platform to outline the new government's priorities, placing particular emphasis on national security. He stated that infiltration and cattle smuggling would become "impossible" in West Bengal under BJP rule.

"Friends, this victory is not merely about BJP's expansion or its ideology. Nor is it only about BJP-NDA forming a government in its 21st state. The biggest importance of this victory is that it plugs one of the biggest holes in India's national security. Now infiltration and cow smuggling will become impossible in West Bengal," he said.

He added that the party would work to identify and remove every infiltrator from the country. 

"People who call this polarisation are mistaken. This is not about polarisation. This is about national security," Shah said.

The BJP's success in West Bengal brings to an end the Trinamool Congress's uninterrupted rule since 2011 and marks the first time the BJP has secured power in the state. Shah noted that the ideological journey begun by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jana Sangh, in the early 1950s had now reached his birthplace. 

"The ideological journey that began in 1950 under the leadership of Syama Prasad Mookerjee has, in 2026, finally brought his party to power in his own birthplace. This is deeply significant," he said.

He also referred to the 150th year of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's composition of 'Vande Mataram', describing the formation of a BJP government on the soil associated with the novelist as an important development.