West Bengal LOP Suvendu Adhikari. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Leader of Opposition of West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Friday (January 2, 2026) accused Trinamool Congress of communal flare-ups in West Bengal’s Malda and Murshidabad last year and called West Bengal a ‘Bengali Hindu homeland’.
“Looting Hindu homes and shops in Mothabari, torching houses in Dhulian and Samserganj, for whom did you have to do such things? This has to stop, change has to come. We want peace in West Bengal,” Mr Adhikari said at his rally on Friday at Malda, referring to the ruling dispensation.
He drew parallels between the recent lynching of Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh and the lynching of father-son duo Hargobind Das and Chandan Das in Murshidabad’s Jafrabad in April. The LoP alleged that religious activities like Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, Durga Puja, Kali Puja, and Jagaddhatri Puja are hindered by lack of permissions by the ruling Trinamool government.
Mr. Adhikari promised that once the BJP comes to power the party will provide 200 days of employment to people. The remarks are a counter to the Trinamool Congress claim that it will provide 100 days employment under Karmashree Prakalpa, a job guarantee scheme of West Bengal government. After MGNREGA was stopped in West Bengal in April 2022, the West Bengal government started its own job guarantee scheme.
The LOP had approached the Calcutta High Court for seeking permission for a rally after the police denied permission to hold a rally. Mr. Adhikari said that he had approached high Court 104 times for holding rallies.
During the day State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya alleged the Trinamool Congress government has siphoned funds from various government schemes. Mr. Bhattacharya said that money from the mid- day meal scheme was used to pay compensation for victims of Bogtui violence.
The West Bengal BJP president said that SIR is being done by a constitutional body and while the process is being done in 12 states, but the State’s ruling party is having problems in West Bengal. Mr. Bhattacharya said that help desks of BJP for SIR are being attacked and despite what the Trinamool claims it does not provide space for opposition parties.
Published – January 03, 2026 04:46 am IST
