West Bengal BJP leadership reaches out to Muslims, says Trinamool has done nothing for minorities

Extending an olive branch to minorities in the state, West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party chief Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday said that the most victims of political violence during the Trinamool Congress regime were Muslims.

“It is Muslims who die, and it is Muslims who kill. The number of Muslims killed in West Bengal is not the same as the number of Muslims killed in Uttar Pradesh. This is not the picture of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat. How many Muslims have been killed in Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh in the last 15 years is not even close to those killed in West Bengal,” the BJP leader said. State.

Mr. Bhattacharya said that in several parts of the state, the BJP could not field its candidates or even hoist its flags, but there was faction fighting that resulted in the killing of minorities.

Admitting that Muslims in West Bengal did not vote for the BJP, the BJP president said the question of what the Trinamool Congress has done for the Muslims in the state should be asked to the community members. However, Mr. Bhattacharya added that those who thought they could come to power with only 28 percent voter support (Muslims constitute 27 percent of the electorate) were mistaken.

The West Bengal BJP president made these remarks while addressing a meeting of the BJP Minority Morcha in the city. The statements, made ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, mark a significant departure from the saffron party’s previous stance of not engaging with minorities. Minorities in West Bengal have been overwhelmingly supporting the Trinamool Congress since the 2011 Assembly polls, and despite the Left parties, the Congress and other smaller parties trying to win the support of the minorities, little has been done to the Trinamool’s Muslim vote bank.

After the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, when the number of seats in the BJP Lok Sabha fell from 18 to 12 in West Bengal, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had called for an end to the party’s slogan. Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas He pointed out that Muslims did not vote for the BJP.

“Stop Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. No need for minority morcha” [of the BJP]Speaking on Saturday, Mr. Bhattacharya said the BJP does not believe in the distinction between ‘majority’ and ‘minority’. “We have a minority morcha to bridge the divide between majority and minority,” the WB BJP chief said.

Underlining that thousands of young people from Muslim families in the state go to work as migrant workers, Mr. Bhattacharya said that while poor Muslims are forced to send their children to madrassas, community leaders send their children to elite schools.

Suvendu: Trinamool has no intention of providing jobs

Mr. Adhikari on Saturday (February 14, 2026) launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress government, accusing it of “cheating” the state’s youth and failing to address the unemployment crisis.

The Opposition Leader said the Budget tabled by the State government earlier this month made it clear that the Trinamool Congress government was not providing any jobs. The BJP leader also claimed: Banglar Slot Surface The plan announced in the budget to provide monthly allowances to unemployed youth is nothing but a bluff.

Mr. Adhikari alleged that the ‘Yuva Sashri’ scheme, which was launched in 2013 to provide allowances and jobs to 17 lakh applicants, has been effectively terminated without any funds being allocated since the financial year 2017-18.