Bengal Elections 2026 | 'Mamata now a liability for TMC; we will win 165 seats if...': BJP's Siliguri leader Shankar Ghosh

West Bengal Elections 2026 | Shankar Ghosh, the BJP's face in Siliguri, says the party can cross 165 seats in West Bengal if the Election Commission ensures a free and fair poll. He points to a "huge undercurrent" and claims even the Bengali Bhadralok has now realised political change is needed for their survival.

In an exclusive interview with Business Today ahead of the assembly elections, Ghosh speaks about North Bengal's political mood, minority vote arithmetic, and why he believes urban voters could shift away from Mamata Banerjee.

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Edited Excerpts

How is the campaigning going for the BJP in Siliguri and North Bengal?

Siliguri is known for its support for Modi. BJP has been sweeping Siliguri since 2014. We won the assembly elections in 2021. We have been winning here in parliamentary elections since 2014, and we will win again in 2026. There is no alternative.

What is your 10-year roadmap for North Bengal?

I never talked just about Siliguri. I always talked about North Bengal as a whole. Siliguri is known as the Gateway of the North East and Chicken's Neck. As Siliguri caters to North Bengal and the North East, and people who cross this city for medical facilities or for any other reasons, I aim to stop them here in Siliguri. I want to make it an educational, health, tourism, industrial infrastructure, and real estate hub. That is my vision. But Siliguri is too small to carry all these things, so the development of Siliguri is related to the development of the outer periphery. That's why I talk about the Greater Siliguri, North Bengal.

Economist Sanjeev Sanyal says Kolkata did not die; it was murdered. Kolkata was never allowed to grow. In the same way, Siliguri has also not developed the way it should have. What has held it back?

It was due to a lack of proper planning and political will. Also, West Bengal never got a chance to have a double-engine government - that is, the Centre and state run by the same party - that never happened. These are the three points that actually blocked the development of Siliguri and, in a way, North Bengal.

North Bengal has backed the BJP. Most of the seats the BJP got in 2021 came from this region. But the bigger problem for your party is urban seats and the Bengali Bhadralok, whose votes you have not been able to secure. How do you plan to bring the Bengali Bhadralok on your side?

I don't think that it is the right term to call Bengali Bhadralok - all are Bhadralok. Kolkata-based people are rich in education and culture. Now think about it, will these culturally educated people choose a party whose poster boys are Anubrata (Mondal) and Arabul (Islam)? Do you think this is the choice of a Bengali Bhadralok? It is not the choice of the Bengali Bhadralok. The system is like that - they are compelled to choose these kinds of people. I hope this time, in North and South Bengal, TMC will get a proper slap from this Bengali Bhadralok.

They (Bhadraloks) had the opportunity in 2021 and also in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections...

If you go to Kolkata or the surrounding Kolkata - South, North, and Howrah - I don't think people here have had the environment to express their choice. They were under pressure. Most of the time, they were not able to cast their votes. So, the real story of Kolkata and its surroundings, we'll never find through the election result. TMC stops the people from casting their vote; instead, they (TMC workers) cast their vote. And the Election Commission must be criticised for making past elections a farce.

In 2024, we observed that we had won four parliamentary seats. But what was the result? We lost. And now a court case is going on. And on the day of the poll or before the poll, people are threatened not to come out to cast their vote. And when police and criminals are all assembled under the umbrella of the ruling party, it is very tough to express your choice. The EC didn't do enough to make sure people cast their vote. That's the problem. That's why we are not getting the proper result.

Has this been addressed this time?

This time, a more active Election Commission is what we have seen in the last two to three months. But I always say that it is not about decision-making on paper - it is all about execution on the field. If they can do so this time, then we will say we are satisfied. If they fail to execute on the field, then the commission will fail in giving the West Bengal electorate a proper, peaceful environment to cast their vote.

After the 2021 election results, violence broke out, and BJP workers were targeted. Some say the BJP has a credibility issue as its leadership didn't stand by its workers in those tough times.

It's a very wrongful statement. They (TMC) wanted to make some kind of narrative. But after 2021 and before 2026, we faced the parliamentary election in 2024. See the guts of the BJP karyakarta. After May 2, BJP workers were brutally killed - more than 200 people were killed. Lakhs of BJP karyakarta were forced to leave their houses, and women were tortured. After that, the party was rebuilt, and in 2026, we are very sure that we will form the government. The question is, if BJP leaders don't stand for the ground workers, how has this party revived? We have done everything possible. Those who died in the political clash, the party helped them. So, this is a very wrong narrative. Before 2011, when TMC was in the opposition, their workers also died in political violence. After 2011, when Trinamool came to power, it never took care of them. This is their party's nature. That's why they are alleging others.

One big disadvantage for the BJP is that there are 100-plus seats where minority votes are very influential. In a 100-metre race, it is said that Mamata always starts from 30 metres. The BJP needs to secure at least 45% of the vote to come to power. Currently, you have nearly 40%. How do you plan to get this extra 5% of votes?

Our (BJP's) calculation is based on 70%. We are trying to consolidate Hindus. If 4–5% Hindus just change their mind, then it will be very easy to form our government. This time, the 30% block vote of the minority - I don't think TMC will get all the votes of minorities. There will be fractured support towards the Trinamool Congress. They may get 20–22%, but around 8% Muslims will vote for other than TMC. They may not vote for the BJP, but they will vote for someone other than the TMC. So, Trinamool Congress is under pressure on how to consolidate the minority voters. Here in West Bengal, it is not that minorities are getting much support from the TMC. The problem is that TMC assembled all those hooligans who are coming from the minority to make sure that they can do anything in the name of booth capturing, syndicate, illegal construction, illegal mining, and illegal afforestation. And these hooligans always chase the Muslim community to cast their vote in favour of TMC. Muslim religious leaders also play a vital role in favour of the Trinamool Congress. But now even minority people are not happy. I hope they will vote against the TMC, maybe not in favour of the BJP, but for other parties.

But if that division doesn’t happen, where do you see that extra 5% of votes coming from?

After the Malda and Murshidabad incidents and after the Bangladesh incidents, there are a lot of Hindus - who firmly believe in secularism - have started thinking that if they have to survive in West Bengal, they have to remove the Trinamool Congress from power.

So, what happened in Bangladesh is playing a role?

Yes, it will play a very vital role. People observe, people feel - they see the horrifying picture of Bangladesh. The way Hindus were tortured and killed, and the way Dipu Das was murdered, the same mentality you will find in Malda and Murshidabad. People in Bengal are against this mentality. People want change in the power centre of the state. They are not looking towards Shankar Ghosh; they are looking towards a change in the government. That kind of anti-incumbency is here right now, and there is a huge undercurrent. If the EC ensures a proper environment, we will get more than 165 seats.

The BJP also doesn't have many local leaders who have grown within the party. Suvendu Adhikari, who is leading the BJP, is also from the TMC. How would you counter the narrative that the BJP does not have a local leader to challenge Mamata Banerjee?

That you could say before 2021. Suvendu Adhikari has defeated Mamata. Now, Mamata is becoming a liability for the Trinamool Congress. People vote for Mamata, and people vote against Mamata. A larger section of people who liked Mamata Banerjee before is now against her. She was once an asset of Trinamool Congress. Now she is becoming a liability. After 2021, the BJP produced several leaders who are organic - they grew with the BJP ideology. There are a lot of people who are now in leadership. Samik (Bhattacharya) Da is also one of the most important examples because he started in the BJP at the booth level, and now he is the state president. It shows that the BJP has its own indigenous leadership at the top. Suvendu Adhikari is an exceptional leader. In the history of Indian politics, you have never seen a person who defeated a Chief Minister and is sitting in the Assembly as Leader of the Opposition. So, this time, I don't think this narrative will work for Trinamool Congress.

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You yourself spent your youth in the CPI-M. What attracted you to join the BJP?

I left CPI-M after they joined hands with ISF. ISF does identity politics. Left politics is based on class politics. Class struggle, along with identity politics, will not work. If a person wears a cap, you say he is a secular person. But if a person wears saffron cloth, you say he is communal. I never believed in this kind of differentiation. The Left deviated from its own line. This kind of adjustment was done to get two to three seats in the assembly. This was done by a few leaders like Mohammed Salim. He has a habit of enjoying parliamentary facilities. That's why, in any means, he wants to enter the assembly or parliament. 

Mohammed Salim recently met Humayun Kabir secretly. Humayun Kabir had once said that 30% Hindus would be cut into pieces and thrown into the river Bhagirathi. People have now understood there is no difference between Humayun Kabir and Mohammed Salim. He wears the cloth of secularism, but both have the same mentality.

What will be your message to urban voters, especially those in Kolkata?

Give us a chance for five years. We'll show what the definition of development is in West Bengal. Our Prime Minister says - Viksit Bharat, Viksit Banga. We'll fulfill that promise. 

Our chief minister, who is by birth a Hindu, threatened that if she is not there, one community in Bengal, if they unite, can wipe out Hindus. I urge every person to take one second to press the button to say, Mamata Banerjee, goodbye for now.

Can you explain this in detail for people outside Bengal who may not have understood what she meant?

She threatened the Hindu community. If she is not there, then the Muslim community will dominate the Hindu community. They will do anything they like. This is a kind of threat to the Hindu community that you have to live in West Bengal as a second-class citizen. The number may be less than the Hindus, but they will dominate Hindu in West Bengal.

But isn't she contradicting her own statements? On one hand, she says Bengal has a syncretic culture; if that is the case, why would 30% Muslims attack Hindus?

Mamata knows only about power. And for power, she can do anything. In this statement, you can see she is threatening Hindus, and also she is destroying the culture of West Bengal. For her, Muslims are only a vote bank.