Igniting a political firestorm during her visit to south Bengal’s Jhargram district on Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a blistering attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), while invoking her combative political past to rally support ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Addressing a public gathering, the Mamata declared in a defiant tone, “I survived the bullets of the CPM. If I could survive those, I will kill you like ants!”—accompanied by a dramatic gesture of crushing an ant between her fingers. The remark triggered criticism from opposition quarters, who slammed the language as unbecoming of a democratic leader.
Speaking from the soil of Jangalmahal, once marred by Maoist violence and political bloodshed, Mamata recalled the volatile days of her early political resistance. “This land once reeked of gunpowder. I have faced CPM guns. They tried to blow me to pieces. But I stood my ground,” she said, projecting herself once again as the ‘fighter Mamata’—a theme that political observers suggest is central to Trinamool Congress’ campaign strategy for the upcoming polls.
Mamata’s ire was also directed at the ECI, which recently suspended two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two assistant EROs from Baruipur East and Maina constituencies over alleged voter list manipulation. A criminal case was also ordered against a data entry operator.
The Chief Minister did not mince words: “Elections are still eight months away, and you're already threatening officers? With whose power are you doing this? Are you Amit Shah's broker?”
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Rallying support for the state's administrative machinery, she declared, “There is nothing to fear. It’s our responsibility to protect the officers and employees. These spring cuckoos will vanish after two months. We are permanent.”
The speech also saw Mamata leaning heavily into Bengali linguistic and cultural pride, accusing the Centre and the BJP of disrespecting the Bengali language. She had led a protest in Kolkata last month and later took her campaign to districts, denouncing what she described as systematic “insults and harassment” of Bengalis and the Bengali language in other states.
Dismissing the Election Commission’s neutrality, Mamata accused it of working hand-in-glove with the BJP. “If they try to cut Bengali names from the voter list, I will go around the world and expose them. A wounded tiger is more dangerous than a live tiger—don’t provoke me!” she warned.
She further added, “I have tolerated enough. But now if you try to erase the voices of Bengal, we will not sit quietly. We will rise up and resist.”
During her two-day Jhargram visit, Mamata is also scheduled to meet with tribal organisations and local leaders. On Thursday, she will inaugurate the World Tribal Day celebrations at Jhargram Stadium, where several government schemes and development initiatives are expected to be announced.
Reacting sharply to Mamata's speech, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar accused her of political desperation. “Threatening to kill like ants? This isn’t rhetoric—it’s delusion,” he said, suggesting that Mamata’s aggression stems from her growing insecurity ahead of the polls.
With more than a year left for the elections, Bengal's political battleground is already ablaze. Mamata’s confrontational tone — against both Delhi and constitutional institutions — signals a no-holds-barred electoral campaign, one where identity, resistance and administrative power are likely to be at the centre of a high-voltage narrative war.
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