‘If BJP doesn’t win we will not survive’: Bengal election view from a ground-level ‘worker’
Telegraph | 23 April 2026
Prakash, who lives in a nondescript village near Kolkata that is part of the Magrahat West Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, is confident of his party, the BJP, winning the Bengal election, but he makes no bones about what is at stake for him.
“Ebar amra jitboi [we will win this time for sure],” says Prakash (not his real name), who is in his late thirties and who shares his surname with the majority of the Hindus in the village.
What if the BJP loses? His face clouds over. “No, that will not happen.”
What if it does? “Then we will not survive. The Hindus will not survive. We will be murdered. Our women will be raped.”
Surely, the BJP may win next time even if it doesn’t this time?
“Arre dada, banchle toh election hobe. Ebar amar party harle ami banchbo na [if I don’t survive, what is the point of the election? If my party does not win this time I won’t survive.] Last time they killed our candidate, Manas Saha.”
Dhurjati aka Manas Saha, who contested from the Magrahat Assembly constituency against Trinamool MLA Giasuddin Molla, died on September 22, 2021, months after being assaulted on counting day of the 2021 Bengal election.
Prakash says he has been working for the BJP since 2006, despite opposition from his family members. He says his father – who was close to a Left Front-era village pradhan – had beat him up along with other villagers for working for the BJP.
Why did his father beat him up?
“This time in the panchayat election, there was no one to stand against the TMC candidate. So I got 50 friends from the BJP and convinced the ward of the erstwhile CPM-linked pradhan to contest. But she said she would contest as an Independent and later switch to the BJP. There are 12 booths in our panchayat. The TMC got five, the Independent got four and one each went to three other candidates. Then the daughter of the pradhan played her game and switched to the TMC. My father and others beat me up.”
The pradhan, he says, got the water tap allotted for his village installed on her home’s wall to ensure control over who gets the water.
“When we objected they slapped a case against me,” Prakash says.
He is no stranger to police cases. He says he is out on bail after a case was slapped on him because he had put up a BJP flag in his home.
“A whole gang of people turned up at my home and said do you want to live here or do you want to do BJP? Take down the flag. I refused. They slapped a case on me that I am a rowdy, a goon.”
He says he had help getting bail. “Our candidate himself is a lawyer,” he says proudly.
Why does he like the BJP? “Because of the lotus. The lotus came from the navel of Vishnu, the birth of Brahma the creator.”
What makes him confident that the BJP will win this time?
“Can’t you see how many central forces are here? They will not listen to anyone. They have GPS, they have cameras. They have guns. Whatever is needed to enable voters to vote has been done this time.”
He says he used to work in Bangalore.
“It is filled with Bengalis now. They all have jobs with great salaries. There are so many big companies.
“I came home for the SIR [special intensive revision of electoral rolls]. So many have come from different states. The trains are full. They are openly saying we are coming to vote for BJP, Didi do what you can. It’s all viral on social media.
“Even now I cannot go to my village and am putting up in Kolkata. I will vote and go into hiding. On counting day, after we win, I will return to my village,” he says.
Why does politics play such a huge role in Bengal and not other states in the daily lives of ordinary people? “Because no other state has so many Muslims,” Prakash says, laughing.
Apart from being factually incorrect, isn’t that too simplistic an explanation? “You see even the police are nice in Bangalore, Delhi, but look at the cops here!”
When you point out that “nice” is not an adjective used for the Delhi police, he replies: “Earlier they used to be very bad, but now Rekha Gupta has come and they have become nice.”
He is aware that the Delhi police are not under the chief minister but the Centre. “Same party,” he points out.
When will he go back to Bangalore?
“I have to stay here now. My wife has died. My son is too small. That is why I am saying, if by some chance the BJP does not win this time, we will not survive.”