Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday slammed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and said that if the party and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continue to hold power, West Bengal’s condition will be worse than Bangladesh in the next 30 years.
Addressing an election rally in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar on Thursday, Sarma said, “If TMC and Mamata Banerjee remain in power, then after 30 years our condition may become even worse than Bangladesh.”
VIDEO | West Bengal polls: Addressing a rally in Cooch Behar, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) says, “If TMC and Mamata Banerjee remain in power, then after 30 years our condition may become even worse than Bangladesh.”#AssemblyPollsWithPTI #WestBengalPollsWithPTI… pic.twitter.com/YWxOxhO9sa
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 16, 2026
Accusing the TMC of making false claims that the BJP would stop consumption of meat and fish, Sarma gave the example of his own state and asserted that one can eat as much non-vegetarian food as one wants in saffron party-ruled Assam, the only exception is on the consumption of beef.
“You can go to Dhubri or Goalpara and eat fish and meat as much as you want; there is no restriction,” Sarma said.
“(CM) Mamata Banerjee is worried that once a BJP government is formed in West Bengal, the beef trade here will stop,” he alleged adding that the TMC wants cattle smuggling to Bangladesh to “continue so that they can fill their pockets”.
Central investigating agencies, including the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, have been probing alleged cattle smuggling from West Bengal to Bangladesh.
Sarma said that the BJP government in Assam has ensured that Bangladeshi Muslims do not illegally occupy land in the northeastern state. “We evicted them from illegally occupied land,” he said.
Sarma said West Bengal requires a government capable of providing proper “treatment” to Bangladeshi immigrants, who entered the state illegally. “We have to make the BJP victorious in West Bengal in this election to ensure this,” he said.
Over the past year, incidents along the border, including the reported movement of Bangladeshi nationals back across checkpoints in districts like Murshidabad, have been amplified into a broader political argument.
The BJP has used such developments to argue that infiltration is altering the state’s demographic balance and affecting voter rolls. It has cited Election Commission-linked data to claim that districts bordering Bangladesh have seen some of the highest increases in voter numbers and pressed the need for an exercise like SIR to weed out general voters.
In the election rally, Sarma also breach the topic of dearness allowance stating that government employees in Assam get 50 per cent dearness allowance. Sarma said despite West Bengal being a much bigger state, government employees here receive “only 22 per cent DA”.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases – on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
(With inputs from PTI)