Polls in West Bengal have shown that the BJP is not drawing support from just one community: CM Suvendu

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari | Photo credit: PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said the by-elections to Nandigram and Rejinagar seats proved that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not draw support from just one community.

Mr Adhikari was pointing to Muslim voters who supported the party’s candidates in the elections held earlier this month. The BJP won Nandigram by a margin of over 1.22 lakh votes and minority-ruled Rejinagar by over 75,000 votes. The Chief Minister had earlier said that 80% of the Muslims in Nandigram and 60% of the minority population in Rejinagar had voted for the BJP in the by-elections held on October 6, 2026.

“An impression was created that the BJP was getting the support of only one community and this was especially true in the context of the 2021 Assembly,” Mr Adhikari said.

He was speaking at the culmination of the party’s victory parade in Kolkata where the winning candidates from both Nandigram and Rejinagar were present. Accusing the Trinamool Congress government of dividing people on the basis of language and community, he said the previous government had tried to create a divide between Bengalis and non-Bengalis.

BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya also participated in the procession. He said that the politics of partition is over and that Muslims want education and health for their children.

Addressing the rally, Mr Adhikari urged voters in Kolkata and Howrah to support the BJP in the civic polls and help it secure a “three-engine government”.

“At the Prime Minister’s call, you gave us a two-engine government. At the Chief Minister’s call, we must now give a three-engine government. Will you give us Howrah and Calcutta? I stand in the streets of Calcutta and turn to you with both hands outstretched – will you give us Howrah and Calcutta?” he said.

Elections to Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation are scheduled for November this year.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Adhikari claimed that during the 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule, about 5,000 ponds were illegally filled for real estate development.

Published – 13 Oct 2026 04:20 IST