• Malda rally: BJP will double G-RAM G days to 200 days if voted to power in Bengal, says Suvendu Adhikari
    Indian Express | 3 January 2026
  • Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said on Friday that the BJP-led Central government will double the number of guaranteed working days under the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission-Gramin (VB-G RAM-G) scheme from 100 to 200 once the party is voted to power in the state.

    Addressing the BJP’s ‘Parivartan Sankalp Sabha’(resolution for change conference) at Chanchal in Malda district, the senior party leader alleged that the money meant for the rural job scheme, toilet construction and the Awas Yojana has been looted in the state and that these funds even reached the “hands of Bangladeshi infiltrators”.

    In December 2025, the Centre passed the new VB-G RAM G Bill, replacing the erstwhile MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

    “Keep your job cards ready. Bring the BJP to power and you will get 200 days of work. There are only four months left. Do not worry. In 2024, with the chant of Jai Jagannath, a BJP government was formed in Odisha. This time, there will be a change in Bengal as well,” the BJP leader said.

    Adhikari added, “The Trinamool Congress will become an opposition party in West Bengal in April. The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process is an indicator of what is likely to happen in the upcoming polls. Bihar ki jeet hamari hai, ab Bengal ki bari hai’ (the victory in Bihar is ours, now it is Bengal’s turn).”

    He claimed the TMC had rigged votes and used Bangladeshi infiltrators to win the elections in 2024, but the BJP would ensure their defeat in 2026.

    “By rigging votes, looting booths, and using the votes of Bangladeshi infiltrators, the gap between us and them in the 2024 elections was 4 million (40 lakhs). But in the first SIR jolt, 5.8 million (58 lakh) names have been removed. More names of Rohingya and other infiltrators will be removed from the voters’ list,” he said.

    “You have seen the trailer in Delhi of what the SIR is going to be. The TMC’s second-in-command (MP Abhishek Banerjee) is already saying they don’t accept this voter list. After February 14, everyone in the TMC will be saying the same thing,” Adhikari added.

    The Assembly elections in the state are due by the first half of this year.

    The BJP leader claimed that he had get permission from the Calcutta High Court to hold meetings even as the TMC government did not allow him to do the same.

    “Despite the court’s order, the TMC tried to stall our meeting. I have held 104 meetings with the court’s permission, and we will continue to do so,” he said.

    Targeting the state government, Adhikari alleged corruption and misuse of funds meant for welfare schemes.

    Besides increasing the number of working days under the Centre’s work scheme to 200 days, he also assured that the allocation of funds for building houses under the Awas Yojana would also be increased to 3 lakh. “When the BJP forms government, there will be a real change in the lives of the poor,” he said. He accused the TMC of spreading lies that the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme of the Mamata Banerjee government for giving monetary support to women will be stopped by the BJP.

    Referring to an alleged attack on BJP’s Malda Uttar MP Khagen Murmu in Jalpaiguri in October last year, he called Bengal “the homeland for Bengali Hindus”, saying their party will allow spilling of blood to continue on the state’s soil. “He (MP Murmu) went there to provide relief, not to seek votes. His blood shall not go in vain,” Adhikari said.

    “Sanatani Hindus have united in two places in this state — North Malda and Nandigram. If Sanatanis come forward inspired by North Malda, the BJP will win not 200, but 220 seats,” he added.

    He referred to alleged attacks on Hindus during the anti-Waqf Amendment Act violence in Murshidabad in early 2025, stating the “need of the hour was to unite the Hindus statewide”.

    He also drew parallels between the killings of Chandan Das (40) and his father Hargobind Das, in the violence-hit Samserganj area of Murshidabad in April last year and that of Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh in December, criticising the TMC’s handling of such incidents.

    Adhikari, when in the TMC oversaw its working in Malda and Murshidabad for over three years. He is know to have successfully turned Murshidabad into a TMC stronghold.

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