PM Modi sounds poll bugle in West Bengal, tears into Didi's 'nirmam' government
PM Modi
PM Modi repeatedly called out Bengal's "nirmam sarkar (cruel government)" at a public meeting in Alipurduar, signalling BJP's strategy for 2026 assembly elections.
Modi devoted over half his 35-minute speech to attacking Trinamool on issues ranging from teachers' recruitment scam to recent violent anti-Waqf law protests in Murshidabad.
But the loudest cheers came when he shifted focus to Operation Sindoor.
"I have come to the land that celebrates sindoor khela," Modi said, referencing a Durga Puja ritual. "Every terrorist strike comes at a cost. We entered their homes thrice and struck. We worship Shakti and Mahishasurmardini," he said.
"People in Bengal were angry after the terrorist attack and I could understand your anger. Terrorists wiped out our sisters' sindoor, but our soldiers taught them sindoor's power," Modi said.
"They (Pakistan) attacked us after Partition. They raped women and terrorised people of Bangladesh. Pakistani soldiers are experts in genocide and spreading terror but fail in real battles. That's why they rely on terror," he said.
The PM then returned to Bengal's political landscape, linking the violence in Murshidabad and Malda with what he called TMC's cruelty toward its people.
"Whatever happened in Murshidabad and Malda was an example of this cruelty.
Goons ruled in the name of appeasement. MLAs marked households and they were burned as police stood by. The administration is cruel and indifferent. Bangla-r chitkar, lagbe na nirmam sarkar (Bengal's cry: we don't want this cruel govt)," he said.
He criticised teachers' recruitment scam, claiming middle class and poor were the worst hit. "Trinamool has pushed hundreds of families to the brink, destroyed the education system, and ruined the future of lakhs of children," he said.
"Society is torn by violence and lawlessness. Women are unsafe," Modi said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
PM Modi likely to flag off Vande Bharat train in Katra; his first J&K visit post Pahalgam terror attack
NEW DELHI: In what would be his first visit following Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off the Vande Bharat train from Katra in Jammu and Kashmir. All preparations are underway to ensure the success of the Prime Minister's visit to inaugurate the first Vande Bharat train in the region. Although no official statement regarding the Prime Minister's anticipated visit has been issued, sources have indicated that the local administration in Katra is reportedly making arrangements for the expected event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was previously scheduled to inaugurate the service, but the event was cancelled at the last moment due to inclement weather. Sources have suggested that other railway projects, such as the inauguration of the Chenab Bridge, may also be included in the programme, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on 6 June. In fact, as sources noted, the government aims to complete this programme before 9 June, which marks the 11th anniversary of Narendra Modi's tenure as Prime Minister. The government is reportedly planning nationwide celebrations and outreach programmes highlighting its achievements on that date. 'The date has not yet been finalised, but PM Modi is set to inaugurate the historic Katra-Kashmir Vande Bharat train soon. The tentative date is believed to be 6 June, the day PM Modi is also likely to chair the first meeting of the Union Council of Ministers after Operation Sindoor,' remarked a senior official of the railways, adding that confirmation of the Prime Minister's programme is expected by today. Meanwhile, the local administration in Katra is coordinating with Indian Railways to make all necessary security arrangements and complete other formalities. Sources added that Prime Minister Modi's visit to Katra for the railway function will be his first since the Pahalgam terror attack, and it is expected that he may address the gathering on the occasion. However, sources stated that no tentative programme has yet been announced regarding a possible visit by the Prime Minister to Srinagar.
Indian Express
17 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘With support of your friends in China…': Shashi Tharoor censures Pakistan, Beijing for shielding terror group at UN
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is currently leading an all-party delegation overseas, attacked Pakistan and China for preventing Lashkar-e-Taiba's 'The Resistance Front' (TRF) from being named in a UNSC statement. Tharoor alleged that Pakistan, 'with the support of their friends in China', made sure that the front is not named in a press statement made by the United Nations Security Council. While interacting with Ambassador Celso Amorim, Head Adviser of the Special Advisory to the President of Brazil, Tharoor pointed out that India tried to raise the issue of LeT-backed terror group the Resistance Front before the UN Sanctions Committee multiple times, but the action was blocked by China's support to Pakistan. Tharoor said, 'LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) has created this front called Resistance Front, we have been reporting about Resistance Front to UN Sanctions Committee, time after time. They (TRF) claimed credit for the killings, and the next day they repeated that claim. But when they realised the gravity of it, their handlers in Pakistan got them to delete the claim. However, their claim is on record for 24 hours.' Attacking Pakistan and Beijing, the Congress MP said, 'When India encouraged our friends on Security Council to mention the Resistance Front in the press statement that Security Council issued, Pakistan government, I am sorry to say that, with the support of your friend in China, took out the name, so there is not even a reference.' Tharoor, among other MPs, is part of an all-party delegation tasked with travelling to dozens of countries and spreading the message behind India's Operation Sindoor and the fight against terrorism. During his interaction with Ambassador Amorim in Brazil, the senior Congress leader said that India's fight is against terrorism being used as an instrument of state policy. He also pointed out how the funerals of terrorists who were killed in Operation Sindoor were attended by senior police and military officials in Pakistan. Tharoor, while holding up a photo of one of these funerals, said, 'When we struck those terror bases on May 7, there was a funeral at one of these sites conducted by Hafiz Abdur Rauf, an LeT figure named by the United Nations. Look who's attending the funeral – uniformed officials of the police and military of Pakistan. These are all senior officials, this is what is going on in Pakistan.'
Time of India
18 minutes ago
- Time of India
‘Can China stop the flow of Brahmaputra river to India?': Assam CM hits back at Pakistan over Beijing's veiled threat
Assam's Chief Minister Sarma refuted Pakistan's concerns about China controlling the Brahmaputra, emphasizing its rain-fed nature within India. This rebuttal follows China's veiled warning regarding water politics and India's reassessment of the Indus Waters Treaty. Concerns persist over China's dam project on the Brahmaputra, raising fears of strategic water control and potential catastrophic floods in Assam. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Chinese advisor issues veiled warning Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India's water diplomacy evolves Sarma warns Bangladesh: 'You have two chicken necks, both vulnerable" In a fiery and fact-loaded rebuttal posted on X on Monday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma dismantled what he called Pakistan's 'new scare narrative' over China's control of the Brahmaputra river Reacting to recent statements from a senior Pakistani aide invoking Chinese leverage over India's water, Sarma declared with conviction: 'Brahmaputra is a river that grows in India — not shrinks.'Sarma's statement came in response to remarks made by Rana Ihsaan Afzal, a special assistant to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who claimed that 'China can stop Brahmaputra's flow to India' just as India recently halted parts of the Indus waters to Chief Minister, who governs one of the most flood-prone states in the country, didn't just counter the claim — he deconstructed it with hydrological detail.'China contributes only ~30-35% of the Brahmaputra's total flow,' Sarma wrote, citing glacial melt and limited rainfall in Tibet. The rest — a commanding 65-70% — comes from torrential monsoons and major tributaries within India's own territory.'The Brahmaputra is not a river India depends on upstream — it is a rain-fed Indian river system, strengthened after entering Indian territory,' he said. To drive the point home, Sarma contrasted the river's flow at the India-China border — around 2,000 to 3,000 cubic metres per second — with its mighty surge in the Assam plains, where it swells to between 15,000 and 20,000 m³/s during also pointed out that any reduction in water flow from China 'may help India mitigate the annual floods in Assam,' a recurring crisis that uproots lakhs and destroys the tables on Pakistan, he added, 'Pakistan, which has exploited 74 years of preferential water access under the Indus Waters Treaty, now panics as India rightfully reclaims its sovereign rights.'He ended his post with a resolute reminder: 'Brahmaputra is not controlled by a single source — it is powered by our geography, our monsoon, and our civilizational resilience.'The controversy was triggered by a cryptic but pointed remark from Victor Zhikai Gao, a senior Chinese policy advisor, who said: 'Don't do onto others what you don't want done to you.'Though not naming India directly, his statement was widely seen as a veiled threat in response to India's recent move to suspend parts of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed several Indian message from Beijing coincides with heightened concerns about China's ambitious 'Great Bend Dam' project on the Yarlung Tsangpo — the upper stream of the Brahmaputra in proposed mega-dam, reportedly set to generate 60 gigawatts of power (three times the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam), would be the world's most powerful hydroelectric project. But its location — just 30 km from India's border — makes it a geopolitical in India have called it a 'water bomb.' BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao warned that the dam is not just an infrastructure project, but a strategic weapon. 'It is not going to be a dam, but a 'water bomb' to be used against India and other lower riparian countries,' Gao Ranbir Singh, Chairman of the Brahmaputra Board, questioned the long-term consequences: 'The Brahmaputra Basin is the only water-surplus river basin in India. With this dam in China, are we looking at a water-deficient Brahmaputra river basin?' He emphasized the need for India to adopt a multi-pronged strategy — combining diplomatic outreach, global pressure, and regional collaboration — to counter Beijing's water episode comes at a pivotal moment in India's water diplomacy. After decades of abiding by the Indus Waters Treaty despite repeated cross-border attacks, New Delhi has begun to reassess its the April 22 massacre in Pahalgam, India decided to suspend flow data sharing and restrict some water access to Pakistan — marking a significant strategic response, even if indirect, is a signal that water is now firmly part of the larger strategic chessboard in Asia. But the China-India equation remains complex. Despite border skirmishes and deep mistrust, the two nuclear-armed powers have continued high-level a stern message to Dhaka, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday cautioned Bangladesh against provocative rhetoric over India's Siliguri Corridor — the narrow stretch linking the Northeast to the rest of the to X, Sarma said, 'Bangladesh has two of its own 'chicken necks'. Both are far more vulnerable,' referring to the 80-km corridor from Dakshin Dinajpur to South West Garo Hills that could isolate Rangpur, and the 28-km stretch connecting Chittagong port to remarks came days after Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, during a visit to China, called India's Northeast 'landlocked' and pitched Bangladesh as its 'only guardian of the ocean.'Responding sharply, Sarma said, 'If Bangladesh attacks our Chicken's Neck, we will attack both the Chicken Necks of Bangladesh,' noting that one of them lies just a stone's throw from India's Meghalaya also referenced India's recent Operation Sindoor, which decimated terror infrastructure inside Pakistan, to underscore India's military readiness.'Bangladesh has to be reborn 14 times before attacking India,' Sarma said, as reports surfaced of Chinese support to revive a World War II-era airbase in Lalmonirhat, just 100 km from the Siliguri Corridor.
