SUVENDU ADHIKARI ESCALATES WAR OF WORDS OVER SIR, URGES BENGAL TO STAND WITH MODI
October 26, 2026
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday intensified his political attack on the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), urging people to stand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi while accusing his political opponents of undermining nationalism and Bengal’s cultural heritage.
Adhikari’s remarks came amid the continuing political controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which has prompted protests and demands for accountability from the Election Commission. The chief minister used sharply worded rhetoric against the CJP, referring to groups he described as “Dimagi Naxals” and the “tukde tukde” gang.
“Stand with PM Modi, don't let ‘Dimagi Naxal’, ‘tukde tukde’ gang, cockroaches breed,” Adhikari said, escalating his criticism of the organisation after making similar remarks a day earlier. His language has added to the increasingly confrontational political exchanges surrounding the CJP and the wider debate over electoral processes.
The chief minister also targeted the Left parties and the previous 15-year Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee. He accused the former administration of pursuing what he described as appeasement politics and failing to uphold nationalism. Adhikari further alleged that the previous government had sought to transform West Bengal into “Greater Bangladesh”, a serious political charge that he linked to its cultural and administrative decisions.
Speaking to reporters after attending the bhoomi pujan ceremony for a BJP party office, Adhikari criticised the former government for composing a separate song for the state, designing a flag and adopting the slogan “Joy Bangla”, which is also associated with neighbouring Bangladesh. He presented these decisions as evidence of what he characterised as a departure from his understanding of Indian nationalism.
The chief minister’s latest comments followed his criticism of the CJP on Sunday, when he compared what he described as the spread of undesirable political influences to the proliferation of cockroaches, bedbugs and coronavirus. His repeated use of such expressions has become a prominent feature of his recent attacks on groups he considers opposed to the BJP’s political and ideological position.
Adhikari has also directed criticism at the Left Front’s 34-year tenure and the subsequent TMC administration, accusing both of weakening Bengal’s historical and cultural traditions. His remarks form part of a broader political dispute over nationalism, education, cultural identity and the direction of the state’s public institutions.
The controversy over the SIR exercise remains an important backdrop to these exchanges. Critics of the electoral-roll revision have raised allegations of irregularities and questioned the Election Commission’s handling of the process, while Adhikari has defended the poll panel and challenged the political opposition’s criticism. The competing positions have made the revision exercise a major point of contention in the state’s political discourse.
Adhikari’s appeal for people to stand with Modi therefore combines an attack on the CJP with a broader attempt to frame the political contest around nationalism and the BJP’s ideological agenda. His accusations against the previous TMC government and the Left, however, remain claims made by the chief minister rather than independently established findings.
