Kolkata | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday lashed out at the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, calling the state's prevailing situation “maha jungle raj” and alleging that "corruption, nepotism and appeasement of the ruling dispensation" have prevented development in the state.

Addressing a massive gathering at Taherpur in Nadia district over the phone from Kolkata, Modi urged the people to provide a chance to the BJP in the 2026 assembly polls to form a “double engine government” in the state.

The term “double engine” is used by BJP leaders to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a state.

Dense fog at the venue prevented the Prime Minister's helicopter from landing at the makeshift helipad in Taherpur and forced him to return to the Kolkata airport.

“Let the TMC oppose me and BJP as much as it wants, but the ruling party cannot hold people to ransom, make them suffer and stop Bengal's progress,” Modi said at the Parivartan Sankalpa Sabha, the fourth such meeting in Bengal this year.

The PM also claimed, “We will end TMC's maha jungle raj in Bengal where corruption, nepotism and appeasement politics are ruling the roost." The Prime Minister alleged that the culture of “cut money and commission” has stalled development in the state despite there being “no dearth of goodwill, schemes and money” in store for the region.

“I want to exert my full force in bringing about development in Bengal. Give the BJP a chance and bring double-engine government here,” Modi said, sounding his party's poll bugle for the next year's state elections.

He referred to the NDA's landslide victory in the recently concluded Bihar elections, stating that the results in the neighbouring state will positively impact the party's fortunes in Bengal.

“The election results in Bihar have opened up the doors for BJP's victory in Bengal because everyone knows that the Ganga flows into Bengal from Bihar,” the PM said.

Claiming that the popular sentiment on Bengal's grassroots was to “gain freedom from TMC's misrule”, the Prime Minister said, "The lanes and alleys of the state are resonating with cries of the slogan ‘Banchte chai, BJP tai' (Need BJP to live)."

The Prime Minister addressed the crowd at a strategically poignant location in the Ranaghat area of Nadia district, which is dominated by the presence of Matua community members who are Namasudra Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, amid a growing apprehension of disenfranchisement amongst the community post the publication of the SIR draft rolls.

The rally venue was not far from the heartland of the community in adjacent Bongaon.

During his virtual address, Modi invoked Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur, religious leaders and founders of the Matua sect, and hailed their contributions in the development of the community.

The Prime Minister also greeted the crowd of the Taherpur rally with the ‘Joy Nitai' slogan in acknowledgement of the 15th-century Bengali saint from the region and also stressed the contributions of Chaitnya Mahaprabhu, another Bhakti saint and son of the soil, both of whom are worshipped by the Matua community.

Referring to the issue of infiltration, one of the BJP's dominating poll agendas in the state, Modi hit out at the Trinamool Congress, alleging that “infiltrators enjoy TMC support and patronage in Bengal”.

“The TMC is opposing the SIR exercise to save infiltrators from getting identified. That is that party's true nature,” Modi told the crowd at the Bangladesh-bordering district.

Speaking in the aftermath of the “Bankim da” controversy in Parliament, the PM reminisced about the creator of Vande Mataram, calling him “Rishi Bankim Babu”, and reminded the crowd about the ongoing 150-year celebrations of the National Song.

He accused the TMC of “collating the vices of the Left parties within itself” despite throwing them out of power in Bengal.

Modi compared the “rapid development in Tripura” after embracing BJP rule to the “sharp slide in Bengal's growth curve” during the TMC regime.

“At a time when Tripura, armed with a double-engine government, is striding ahead rapidly, Bengal is falling behind in the development graph under TMC,” he claimed.