Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit West Bengal for a two-day trip, commencing on Friday, where he will deliver speeches at two rallies in Arambagh and Krishnanagar, and inaugurate projects totaling ₹22,000 crore at separate events.
In Krishnanagar, Modi will address a gathering in an assembly segment won by Mukul Roy, a turncoat from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), who secured victory in 2021 on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. In Arambagh, the assembly member is BJP’s Madhusudan Bag. The Arambagh Lok Sabha seat, however, was claimed by TMC’s Aparupa Poddar for a second time in 2019, a year when BJP secured 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.
With a target of winning 35 seats in Bengal, including Krishnanagar, the BJP aims to make significant strides. Anticipating the visit, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya expects the Prime Minister to address the need for a corruption-free society and emphasize on the development and revival of industries in the state.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, without directly naming Modi, criticized his visits ahead of elections, alleging unfulfilled promises. She stated, “Some people start coming to Bengal when elections are imminent. They make tall promises that are never kept. If they [BJP] win this election, the price of cooking gas will hit the ceiling.”
Modi’s visit follows Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement on February 10 that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections. The CAA, passed in 2019, aims to expedite citizenship for non-Muslims entering India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh before 2015. The TMC opposes the CAA, deeming it unconstitutional for linking citizenship to faith in a secular country.
Bengal, with a significant scheduled caste population, including Namasudras who migrated from Bangladesh, has become a focal point for the BJP in recent elections.