‘If Mamata ji had run a clean govt…’: Rahul Gandhi video flags TMC governance, says ‘BJP got opening in Bengal’

In the middle of a high-stakes Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal unit on Thursday seized on a short video clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, using his remarks to target the ruling Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The BJP’s Bengal unit posted a 13-second clip of Gandhi’s message to voters on social media, thanking him for his remarks. In the clip, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha is heard saying: “If Mamata ji had run a clean government, if she hadn’t polarised the state to this extent, the road would not have been cleared for the BJP.”

Advertisement

The BJP’s post read: “Rahul Gandhi keeps dropping truth bombs regarding the TMC. Thanks again Rahul ji.”

The excerpt was taken from a longer video message of around 1.47 minutes that Gandhi had released on the eve of the first phase of polling.

Rahul Gandhi keeps dropping truth bombs regarding the TMC.

Thanks again Rahul ji. #BJPKeVoteDin pic.twitter.com/WG8Ynddh3g

— BJP West Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) April 23, 2026

BJP doubles down on anti-TMC pitch

Senior BJP leaders in the state have continued to frame the election as a fight to unseat the Trinamool government.

Top BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have repeatedly expressed confidence about the party’s prospects in Bengal. Both leaders have focused their campaign speeches on allegations of corruption under Trinamool rule and claimed that the state government has been soft on infiltration from Bangladesh.

After two decades, the Congress is contesting all 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal on its own. Leaders, including former state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former MP Mausam Noor and state president Shubhankar Sarkar are among those in the fray.

Social media battle intensifies on polling day

Alongside the Gandhi clip, the BJP’s social media campaign included a video purportedly showing a man being forced to remove a saffron flag from a bus, surrounded by a crowd. No details about the incident were provided.

The caption accompanying the video read: “Remember this before you go out to vote. A Hindu man was FORCED by an Islamist mob to remove a flag of his religion. To prevent the conversion of West Bengal into West Bangladesh, #BJPKeVoteDin.”

Remember this before you go out to vote. A Hindu man was FORCED by an Islamist mob to remove a flag of his religion.

To prevent the conversion of West Bengal into West Bangladesh, #BJPKeVoteDin pic.twitter.com/0gbLEYQSo0

— BJP West Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) April 23, 2026

Both the BJP and Trinamool social media handles have also been sharing visuals of allegedly empty polling booths set up by the rival party, reflecting the increasingly aggressive online battle complementing the ground campaign.