As Pahalgam attack gives fresh ammo to BJP, Suvendhu Adhikari leads the charge
After the Pahalgam attack, the spotlight in West Bengal has squarely been on BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Over the last four days, Adhikari, who is the leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, has met the families of those killed in the attack, rallied against Pakistan, and burnt the flag of the neighbouring country in front of the West Bengal Assembly.
BJP sources say, Adhikari will ramp up this rhetoric. The public and aggressive stance, they add, is building into the BJP's narrative and campaign in Bengal. The state is due to vote in early 2026.
After the attack on Tuesday, Adhikari said on X, 'Not Language Difference… Not Regional Identity… Not Caste Barrier… Only Question Asked — What is your Religion? Once confirmed HINDU, the Tourists were fired at indiscriminately in Pahalgam… My heart goes out to the Hindu Victims who lost their lives, my Hindu Brothers and Sisters who received bullet injuries and the bereaved and traumatized family members. Hindu Hindu Bhai Bhai… Om Shanti.'
Then on Thursday, Adhikari burnt the Pakistan national flag in front of the West Bengal Assembly and said the Indian Army 'would enter Pakistan' and 'kill them'.
He went on to claim that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had 'never blamed Pakistan' for the Pahalgam attack.
Earlier that day, Adhikari had posted a photo of a wireless network system disc on X, alleging that two persons from Kashmir were living in Baruipur and engaging in 'suspicious' activities. Adhikari shared the address of the flat where the two men live and alleged that they had 'installed a NanoBeam 2AC compact and high-performance wireless network bridge at the rooftop'.
In an official statement, the Baruipur police said the two persons —one Hindu and one Muslim—had installed a simple Jio Fiber network on the terrace and dismissed the BJP leader's allegations.
How the BJP is laying the ground
The 2019 Lok Sabha polls were crucial for the BJP in West Bengal, with the party putting up its best-ever performance in the state by winning 18 of 42 seats.
In the Assembly polls two years later, the BJP managed to get 77 seats out of 292 to emerge as the principal Opposition party in the state. But the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 were a roadblock, with the BJP's tally plunging to 12. The party also lost all of the 10 bypolls that were held subsequently.
In the midst of this, the targeting of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh came as an opportunity for the beleaguered BJP unit in the state.
After the arrest of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh late November, the BJP in Bengal has been organising protests across the state to 'unite Hindus'.
In December, Adhikari and BJP leaders, alongside 50 Hindutva organisations, gathered in Kolkata to call for 'Hindu unity'. At the meet, Adhikari said: 'In Uttar Pradesh Hindus have united under Yogi Adityanath ji… In Haryana, Hindus have united… In Maharashtra, the land of Chatrapati Shivaji, Hindus have united…' Adhikari said.
Adhikari has also been repeatedly calling for a dedicated 'Sanatan Board' to 'safeguard the rights and interests of Hindus'.
Adhikari's rhetoric is only becoming sharper, with the BJP seeking to portray the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) as 'anti-Hindu'.
In March, Adhikari described Bengal Speaker Biman Banerjee as 'anti-Hindu' after the latter refused to allow an adjournment motion moved by BJP leaders on the alleged attacks on Hindus in the Birbhum district during Holi.
The same month, Adhikari declared the BJP would come to power in Bengal after the 2026 Assembly polls and 'oust' muslim MLAs from the Assembly.
And earlier this month, Adhikari announced the construction of a Ram temple in Nandigram district's Sonachura town.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
15 minutes ago
- Hans India
PM Modi helm ushers unprecedented growth, says Punjab BJP chief
Chandigarh: The 11-year governance of the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ushered in a period of unprecedented growth in the country. India has become the fourth-largest economy in the world, Punjab unit party President Sunil Jakhar said on Tuesday. Lauding the phenomenal growth rate of the country, he told the media here that 'our nation has crossed even Japan in term of growth'. 'This is no coincidence but absolute commitment to work on policies, principles and prioritise to ensure that decisions which usher in change for the country were taken in the past 11 years.' While recalling various achievements of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) rule, Jakhar said it was a great achievement that 81 crore people were being given free rations, 55 crore had been given health insurance advantages, four crore houses for the disadvantaged were built, 50 crore households were provided drinking water facilities and crores of toilet's have been built across the nation. Jakhar reasoned that India's 6.5 GDP has led to industrial growth which has translated into employment for the people. 'The infrastructure of the nation, be it the extensive construction of highways or bridges, has changed the entire landscape of the country, ushering in progress and prosperity. A voluminous 55,000 km of highways and expressways is a phenomenal achievement.' Hailing the vision of Prime Minister Modi, the Punjab BJP chief said in 2014 there were only eight AIIMS in the country. 'Today we have 24, three times more in 11 years. In Punjab, we have an AIIMS Bathinda, which is a huge medical facility and soon more hospitals of this level will be established in other towns in the state.' Jakhar emphasised that women rights and equality were a keen concern of the BJP and the women reservation Bill to be passed. 'The social fabric of the country has become more progressive with equality and distribution of wealth and opportunity for all is a reality. The ease-of-living and ease-of-doing business has improved the lives of millions. The substantial increase in MSP (minimum support price) has led to increased income in Punjab as we are primarily an agricultural economy. The food grain purchase in the state this year was Rs 68,771 crore till date, while in 2014 it was Rs 32,211 crore,' he explained. Answering a media query about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that 11 years have not seen any progress, Jakhar said: 'The 6.5 growth rate, the fourth-largest economy in the world, the development in the infrastructure, women empowerment, passing of significant Bills are all to see but unfortunately, if someone wants to have a myopic view then it is lamentable.'
Indian Express
17 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Chirag Paswan may contest from a general seat. Tough task, but it helps to be a star candidate
At a rally in Bihar's Arrah on Sunday, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union Minister Chirag Paswan confirmed his intention to contest the forthcoming Assembly polls. The Dalit leader has also indicated that he wants to contest from an unreserved Assembly seat, which is being seen as a move to expand his and his party's reach beyond the Scheduled Castes. Asked if this also indicated his chief ministerial ambitions, Paswan, who is currently a Union minister, said: 'My contest will only ensure a better strike rate for my party, which would help the NDA.' If he contests from a general seat, it would be a first for Paswan. He has also never contested an Assembly election earlier, having won twice earlier from the Jamui Lok Sabha seat (2014 and 2019), and once from Hajipur (2024). Poll data since 2004, when the Election Commission (EC) began specifying the caste or tribal status of each candidate, shows, though, that while Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates frequently contest from general seats, their chances of victory are small. In Bihar, for example, in the past 20 years since the EC started maintaining the data, SC/ST candidates have won only five times from a general seat, and never in a Lok Sabha poll. Notably, the undivided LJP, which has always fielded a high number of SC/ST candidates from general seats, has never seen any of them win. Overall, since 2004, 5,953 SC/ST candidates have contested from unreserved seats in Lok Sabha elections, with 62 (or just over 1%) of them winning. In state Assembly elections, the number is almost similar, at 20,644 such candidates, and 246 recorded wins (1.19%). Since 2004, the highest number of SC/ST winners in general seats were seen in last year's Lok Sabha elections, at 22 (two of them women) – though, their number has been rising, from 15 in 2004, to eight in 2009, seven in 2014, and 10 in 2019. 2024 also saw the highest proportion of SC and ST candidates in general seats (19.4% of total). In 2019, such candidates accounted for 16.2% of all contestants. The lowest share of these candidates since 2004 was in 2009, at 12.8%. Tribal candidates far outnumbered SCs when it comes to winning from a general seat. Among the 62 overall who have won since 2004 from general seats in Lok Sabha polls, 47 have been STs and 15 SCs. This is despite SC candidates in general seats being more than six times STs (5,063 compared to 890). Among the states, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of SC/ST candidates contesting from general seats since 2004, at 830, followed by Tamil Nadu at 754, Madhya Pradesh at 342, Andhra Pradesh at 314, and Karnataka at 286. Maharashtra has the most total Lok Sabha seats of these states at 48, while Tamil Nadu has 39, Madhya Pradesh 29, Andhra Pradesh 25, and Karnataka 28. The highest number of SC or ST winners in general seats are from Arunachal at 10, followed by Assam at seven, and Ladakh, Nagaland and West Bengal at five each. No other states have seen more than five such winners. The Northeast is overrepresented here given the low number of seats in the region where most seats are already reserved for STs. At 55, Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara has seen the most number of SC/ST candidates contesting from a general seat, followed by Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur and Maharashtra's Nagpur at 50 each, and Telangana's Khammam and Nizamabad at 45 each. If only 62 SC/ST candidates have won from general seats since 2004, just 65 more have placed second and 177 third. The vast majority – 5,649 of 5,953 – came in fourth or lower. Just 164 SC/ST candidates have secured more than 10% votes when contesting from general seats, and only 147 others have been able to save their deposits by winning at least one-sixth of the total votes. Their presence in the race on most occasions did not make a difference, with just 200 SC/ST candidates standing in general seats since 2004 securing more votes than the margin of the winner, and presumably influencing the result. Most of the SC/ST candidates contesting from general seats in Lok Sabha elections are Independents, comprising 3,284 of the total 5,953 since 2004. Of them, only three have won – all from Ladakh. In comparison, the two biggest parties nationally, the BJP and Congress, account for just 54 and 52 such candidates, respectively. Of the BJP's 54, nearly half or 28, won from general seats, with the Congress tally at 15. The Mayawati-led BSP, not surprisingly, far outstrips other parties, with 600 such candidates fielded in general seats. The Dalit-oriented party, though based in Uttar Pradesh, contests Lok Sabha polls across the country. The most notable SC/ST winners from general seats since 2004 include Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Sarbananda Sonowal, both from the Northeast. Rijiju, a member of the Nyishi tribe, has won the Arunachal West Lok Sabha seat four of the last five times, while Sonowal, also a tribal leader and former Assam CM, has won his seat thrice from Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh. BJP MP and tribal leader Mansukhbhai Vasava from Gujarat's Bharuch shares the record with Rijiju on ST candidates who have won from general seats the most times, at four. Like Sonowal, Arunachal BJP president and ST leader Tapir Gao won from Arunachal East and Congress Dalit Punjab leader Sher Singh Ghubaya won from Firozpur thrice each. Most recently, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party Dalit leader Awadesh Prasad defeated the BJP in Faizabad, a general seat that is home to Ayodhya's Ram Temple. In the Assembly elections held since 2004 (counting the 2025 Delhi Assembly polls), 20,644 SC/ST candidates have contested from general seats, or 11% of total, lower than their proportion in the Lok Sabha polls. Like the Lok Sabha polls, SC candidates outnumber STs in such seats by more than five times (17,330 SCs to 3,314 STs). And like the Lok Sabha polls, they figure far behind among winners – of the 246 such winners till date, 64 have been SCs and 182 STs. The year 2023, when there were nine Assembly elections, saw the highest number of such candidates at 1,792. It is followed by the years 2014 and 2024 (1,666 and 1,622, respectively), when there were Lok Sabha polls as well as eight state elections each. Like in the case of Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra has seen the most number of SC/ST candidates contesting from general seats, at 3,058. UP, with the largest Assembly in the country, comes second at 1,811, followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,687, Andhra Pradesh (which included Telangana until 2014) at 1,675, and Karnataka at 1,410. However, in terms of winners, none of these states count among the top. Assam has seen the most number of SC/ST candidates emerge victorious from general seats at 30, followed by Rajasthan at 26, West Bengal at 23, Sikkim at 22, and J&K at 20 since 2004. At 121 candidates, a large concentration of such winners is, hence, in Northeastern and other hill states. Apart from the 246 winning SC/ST candidates from general seats, just 297 placed second and 858 placed third. The remaining 19,243 candidates (93% of total) finished fourth or lower. Only 822 candidates even secured a vote share greater than 10%, with only 622 others managing to save their deposits. As far as the impact on the outcome goes, there have been 1,031 SC/ST candidates in general seats who secured more votes than the winners' margins. Of these, 732 were SCs and 299 were STs. Like at the Lok Sabha level, in Assembly polls too, Independents comprise the biggest chunk (nearly half, at 9,789) of the SC/ST candidates who have contested from general seats since 2004. The BSP again tops among parties, with 3,210 such candidates, with the BJP (295) and Congress (222) trailing far behind. In fact, at 239 SC/ST candidates in general seats since 2004, the LJP, including Paswan's LJP (RV) now, outranks Congress, despite being a Bihar-based party. The other parties to have fielded more than 100 such candidates in the last two decades include the Republican Party of India (Athawale) – also a Dalit-focused party like the LJP – at 212; the Gondwana Gantantra Party at 206; the SP at 149; the CPI(ML)(L) at 133; the CPI(M) at 109; and the Aam Aadmi Party at 100. However, the winners' list of such candidates is dominated by national parties. The BJP again has the most SC/ST winners in general seats at 59, followed by the Congress at 55, Independents at 18, the Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) at 10 each, the Biju Janata Dal at nine, the National Conference at eight, and the BSP at six. Among the most prominent such winners has been Babulal Marandi, Jharkhand's first CM and one of the BJP's tallest tribal leaders, who won the unreserved Dharwar Assembly seat in 2019 and 2024. Two-time Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang, an ST leader of NDA member Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, won unreserved seats in 2004, 2009, and 2014. Ramesh Jarkiholi, another tribal leader and former Karnataka minister, won the unreserved Gokak seat for the Congress in 2018 and the BJP in 2023. Praniti Shinde, daughter of former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde, won Maharashtra's Solapur City Central seat in 2009 and 2014 as an SC candidate. Nisith Pramanik, an SC leader and former Union minister, won the unreserved Dinhata seat in West Bengal in 2021 before becoming an MP. With four victories from the unreserved Gossaigaon seat in Assam (2006 to 2021), Bodoland Peoples' Front leader Majendra Narzary holds the record for SC/ST candidates in Assembly elections. Meghalaya's Sanbor Shullai matches him, having won unreserved seats twice with the NCP, in 2008 and 2013, and twice with the BJP, in 2018 and 2023.
The Hindu
20 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Pakistan in the grip of a ‘military-terrorist nexus': Prasad
Pakistan was in the grip of a military-terrorist nexus, with generals of the Pakistan armed forces using terrorism as a proxy to maintain their relevance, with Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir speaking the language of fascism, said BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad. Addressing a press conference after his return as the head of a multi-party delegation that visited Italy, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark, Mr. Prasad said that the delegation gave a historical context to India's actions concerning Operation Sindoor. 'Pakistan is not only a state in denial, but the military-terrorist nexus has become a deadly combination,' he said. 'When we talked about history, we talked about how Pakistan is in the hands of Generals... The world needs to understand that Pakistan is in the grip of a military-general nexus whose dirty job is done by the terrorists and terrorist camps,' he added. He said that the delegation also spoke about a speech by now Field Marshal Asim Munir ahead of the Pahalgam terror attack, which mentioned how Hindus and Muslims were 'different' and that the creation of Pakistan was on the basis of that difference, and that future generations of that country must be told of it. He added that these were the words of a 'jihadi general' and that 'Asim Munir was speaking the language of fascism', which should ring alarm bells in European capitals. He emphasised that India has never been the aggressor in any conflict. 'We have fought conventional wars (with Pakistan), but we were never the aggressors. We made it clear that we are not against the people of Pakistan,' he said. Mr. Prasad stated that all Indian governments have made genuine attempts to foster good relations with Pakistan. 'Prime Minister Modi called Nawaz Sharif (former Pakistan Prime Minister) for his swearing-in ceremony, went to his grandson's wedding too and then Uri (attack) happened and we gave a befitting reply; then, similarly with Pulwama, and now this (Pahalgam),' he said. The delegation led by Mr. Prasad also included BJP MPs Daggubati Purandeswari, Gulam Ali Khatana, and Samik Bhattacharya, former BJP MP M.J. Akbar, Congress MP Amar Singh, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Priyanka Chaturvedi, AIADMK MP M. Thambidurai and former diplomat Pankaj Saran. Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7 in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam by Pakistan-sponsored militants that claimed 26 lives and injured several others. Following retaliation from Pakistan, the Indian Armed Forces carried out targeted strikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the deaths of over 100 terrorists linked to groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.
