Kolkata, Mar 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a strong pitch to women and youths of West Bengal, promising safety, employment and an end to the “cut-money culture” and “mahajungle raj”, while declaring that a ‘kranti’ for a new Bengal has begun.
Addressing a massive rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground here, Modi sought to tap two of the state’s most decisive electoral blocs — women and young voters — ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, accusing the ruling TMC of presiding over lawlessness, corruption and large-scale migration of youth.
“The TMC government provides protection to rapists and criminals; the Sandeshkhali and RG Kar incidents are testimony to this. Acid attacks against women have gone up in West Bengal. In present-day Bengal, goons have a free run, and the safety of mothers and sisters has been compromised,” he said.
“I assure the mothers and sisters of Bengal that if you give your blessings to the BJP here, women will be safe and criminals will be in jail. This is Modi’s guarantee,” he added.
Launching a broadside against the Mamata Banerjee government, the PM alleged that crimes against women had increased under the TMC rule and cited incidents such as those in Sandeshkhali and the RG Kar rape and murder case as examples of what he described as a “collapse of law and order”.
“This land worships Shakti. Such conditions cannot be tolerated here,” he said.
Claiming that “change is written on the walls of Bengal”, the prime minister said public anger against what he termed the ruling party’s “mahajungle raj” was growing across the state.
The prime minister also attempted to evoke the historical symbolism of the Brigade ground, saying the same venue had witnessed movements that shaped the country’s political destiny.
“The voice raised against the British regime from this very field turned into a revolution across Hindustan. Today, once again, the bugle for the ‘kranti’ (revolution) for a new Bengal has been sounded from Brigade Ground,” Modi said.
Women voters, who constitute nearly half of West Bengal’s electorate, have increasingly turned out in larger numbers than men in recent elections, emerging as a decisive constituency that parties are keen to woo.
According to Election Commission data following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the number of women voters in the state stands at around 3.44 crore out of the total 7.04 crore electorate, underscoring their growing political influence.
“Now the end of ‘mahajungle raj’ in Bengal is inevitable. From every corner of the state, one voice is rising- ‘Come BJP government, this time for sure’. No matter how hard this tyrannical TMC government tries now, it will not be able to stop this storm of change,” Modi said.
The PM also focused extensively on the plight of young people in the state, expressing concern over “large-scale exodus of youths” in search of employment.
“Decades of misrule by Congress, CPI(M) and TMC have pushed Bengal’s economy into decline while those in power enriched themselves through corruption,” Modi alleged.
Referring to recruitment scams that have rocked the state, he said the future of many deserving youths had been destroyed because “jobs were sold through corruption”.
“The TMC government has inflicted the curse of exodus upon Bengal’s youths. They deserve transparency, opportunity and dignity. The coming era will belong to the young generation that will transform this state,” he said, adding that the BJP would create opportunities so that young people would not have to leave Bengal for work.
The prime minister also accused the TMC government of running what he called a “cut-money ecosystem” that blocked central welfare schemes from reaching the poor.
“These TMC people will neither work themselves nor allow others to work. Until they get the cut money, they do not allow schemes to reach the villages or the poor…a few days back, a potato farmer committed suicide due to anti-people policies of the TMC,” he alleged.
His outreach to women and youths comes at a time when these two segments are emerging as key electoral blocs in the run-up to the 2026 assembly polls.
Highlighting welfare programmes of the Centre, Modi referred to initiatives such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission and Ayushman Bharat, saying they were aimed at providing housing, tap water and free healthcare to the poor.
He also mentioned the PM Vishwakarma Yojana, which supports traditional artisans, and the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, under which households can generate solar power and reduce electricity bills.
Modi claimed that several central schemes were not reaching tea garden workers and other vulnerable communities because the state government had failed to implement them properly.
Invoking Bengal’s rich intellectual and nationalist legacy, the prime minister said the BJP aimed to rebuild the state envisioned by luminaries such as Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Khudiram Bose and Syama Prasad Mukherjee.
“The blessings of Mahishasura Mardini are with the BJP and the NDA. We will build and reconstruct that Bengal which the great personalities dreamt of,” he said.
Modi also alleged that the state administration had tried to obstruct people from attending the rally by shutting down bridges and removing BJP posters.
