The BJP is trying to “loot” West Bengal and take over the State, said Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee at an election rally on Saturday (March 28).

“They [BJP] will change our food habits, snatch our land, bulldoze and destroy everything... They are conspiring to end Bengal and make the State cease to exist,” she said.

Also read: Developments in poll-bound States on March 28, 2026

Referring to a violence that broke out during a Ram Navami celebration in Murshidabad’s Raghunathgunj on Friday (March 27), Ms Banerjee said that she had been left powerless and could not take any action as all the officers working under her had been changed by the Election Commission after the polls were announced.

“Please don’t blame me for the law and order situation. I don’t have any power left with me since all the officers have been changed. The BJP has cherry-picked officers for the State,” Ms. Banerjee said at a rally in Pashchim Bardhaman’s Raniganj. She further said that she will not spare any of the accused in the long run, and will hold them accountable “today or tomorrow”. 

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said the State Election Commission had received a report of the incident and confirmed that 29 people were arrested in relation to the violence. 

In an appeal to the audience, Ms. Banerjee said if they vote for the BJP, it will force them to eat vegetarian food, take away their freedom to choose clothes, destroy the education system, and stop all the social schemes that were started by her government. “If you do not want these things to stop, do not vote for anyone other than Trinamool,” Ms Banerjee added. 

. At the three rallies she attended on Saturday, the Trinamool chairperson sharpened her attacks on the EC and the special intensive revision (SIR) process. Alleging large-scale “targeted deletions”, she wanted to know how the deleted voters would seek redressal if the supplementary lists are not made public. She also said that women, Muslims, Adivasi, and other community voters had been targeted in the SIR process.

The supplementary lists with the names of 60 lakh voters who were put under adjudication are being published in phases. Till now, two lists have been published. Though the polls are only three weeks away, lakhs of voters in multiple districts are still uncertain about their voting rights

At a rally in Birbhum’s Labhpur, Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s second-in-command, urged voters to bring down the BJP’s Assembly seats below 50 (from the 77 at present). “This election is not just about bringing Mamata Banerjee to power for a fourth term, but about reducing the BJP seats. Wherever they win, poor people suffer the most,” he added. 

The election to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.