TMC, BJP swap hate speech complaints with ECI

The Trinamool Congress and the BJP have moved the Election Commission of India (ECI) against each other over alleged threats, hate speeches and abusive remarks just weeks ahead of the 2026 West Bengal assembly polls.

At the centre of the row is the BJP’s Panihati candidate, the mother of the RG Kar hospital doctor who was raped and murdered last year, and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, whose provocative comments against Union Home Minister Amit Shah have triggered a counter-complaint by the saffron camp.

In a complaint to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday, the TMC MP accused the BJP candidate of making “highly objectionable, threatening and derogatory” remarks against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Serampore MP also alleged that the BJP’s Panihati nominee had even made remarks amounting to a threat to her life. Describing the comments as “deeply disturbing” and a danger to democratic values, Kalyan Banerjee urged the poll panel to intervene immediately.

“The use of abusive language and issuance of threats during an electoral process undermines the principles of free and fair elections and creates an atmosphere of fear and hostility among the public,” the TMC MP said in his letter.

Seeking exemplary action, he requested the commission to take cognisance of the matter, order a prompt and impartial inquiry, initiate strict legal and disciplinary action against the BJP candidate and ensure that such violations are not repeated.

The TMC sought to portray the issue as part of what it called the BJP’s strategy of importing the language of confrontation and intimidation into Bengal’s election campaign.

As Kalyan Banerjee moved the Election Commission of India, the BJP hit back within hours with a complaint before the West Bengal chief electoral officer, accusing the TMC MP of making “derogatory, provocative and hateful” remarks against Amit Shah.

The BJP included a video clip with its complaint and alleged that Kalyan Banerjee’s comments against the Union Home Minister were not an isolated outburst but part of a wider pattern of inflammatory rhetoric by the ruling party.

In its letter, submitted by State BJP leader Shishir Bajoria, the party alleged that Kalyan Banerjee’s remarks were intended to “demean, provoke and incite hostility”, thereby creating tension and polarisation in the middle of the election campaign.

“The subject statement is not an isolated incident, but a part of a continuing and escalating pattern of provocative and intimidatory rhetoric by TMC leadership and its functionaries,” the BJP said.

The saffron party went a step further, claiming that repeated attacks by TMC leaders on the BJP leadership reflected a “coordinated strategy” to spread hostility, fear and hatred.

According to the BJP, Kalyan Banerjee’s comments had been made with the tacit approval of the Trinamool Congress leadership and amounted to a “systemic disregard” for the Model Code of Conduct.

The BJP urged the poll authorities to hold Banerjee guilty of violating the MCC, direct the immediate removal of the video carrying his remarks from public platforms, restrain him and other TMC leaders from making similar speeches and initiate criminal proceedings under relevant laws.

The Panihati seat has acquired unusual political significance after the BJP fielded the mother of the RG Kar victim, seeking to convert last year’s Statewide outrage over the doctor’s rape and murder into an electoral issue.

The TMC, however, has repeatedly accused the BJP of politicising personal tragedy and using the grieving family as a political weapon against the Mamata Banerjee Government.

The BJP, on the other hand, has projected the candidate as a symbol of resistance against what it describes as the State’s failure to ensure justice and women’s safety.

Do not vote for Congress, it benefits the BJP: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday urged people not to vote for the Congress, claiming it would only strengthen the BJP. Addressing a rally at Jalangi in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, the TMC national general secretary alleged that the Congress has a nexus with the BJP and the Left, and voting for its candidates would split non-BJP votes and benefit the saffron party.

“Did they (Congress) help you (electorate) when your name was missing from the voter list due to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls? No party other than the TMC fought the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP valiantly to ensure your names figure in the electoral rolls,” he said.

“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee unmasked the ECI and BJP’s role in SIR and ensured the publication of supplementary lists and setting up of tribunals. Only we opposed this diabolical game plan to deprive citizens of their voting rights from the beginning. Congress and other parties did nothing. We will always be on your (people’s) side,” he said. He said those whose names were deleted from the final electoral rolls should appeal to tribunals and assured that the TMC would extend all help to them.

The Congress is contesting all major seats in the district, including Baharampur, to challenge the TMC, which has 20 MLAs, including suspended legislator and founder of Janata Unnayan Party Humayun Kabir.

Banerjee also accused the BJP and other “vested interests” of trying to stoke communal tension in Murshidabad in the run-up to the polls. Accusing the Opposition of launching false campaigns against the TMC, he said, “All kinds of misinformation are being spread and peddled. Wait for 28 days till May 4 when people of Murshidabad and the rest of Bengal will give a befitting reply to these anti-Bengal, anti-people elements.”

“We will democratically twist and break the spine, ankle of forces like the BJP in the April 23 and April 29 polls,” he said.

“People of Bengal will give a befitting lesson to those who deprived us of homes, drinking water and wages under the 100 days’ work scheme. Their dream to capture Rammohan, Vidyasagar, Tagore, and Vivekananda’s Bengal through ECI will not succeed,” he said.

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