We are reviving Bengal’s panchayat system: Dilip Ghosh
The Statesman | 8 June 2026
Reviving development schemes, strengthening border infrastructure and restoring accountability in rural administration are the focus areas of West Bengal’s new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, says panchayat and rural development minister Dilip Ghosh.
According to the 61-year-old senior BJP leader, the new government has also laid stress on ensuring that Central schemes reach intended beneficiaries.
“A lot of Central government schemes were not implemented earlier by the (preceding) Trinamul Congress government. We have now completed all preparations so that our people can benefit from these schemes.
Whether they are rural road schemes, housing schemes or the construction of toilets, everything will start here,” Ghosh, a former state BJP president, told The Statesman in an exclusive interview.
The minister said extensive consultations had already taken place with legislators and district administrations to accelerate implementation of schemes.
“Our priority now is to establish coordination among various agencies in the state to execute projects at the village level. Rural development projects require close cooperation between district administrations, panchayat bodies and multiple state departments,” Ghosh said.
Launching a blistering attack on the TMC regime, he said the panchayat system inherited by the new government is one “crippled by corruption”.
“In Bengal, the panchayat system has collapsed. It has become a den of rampant corruption,” said Ghosh, who has also been assigned the agricultural marketing and animal husbandry portfolios.
He highlighted persistent grassroots issues across the state’s panchayat system.
“Many problems plague the panchayats ~ roads are in bad condition, during monsoon season the situation worsens further. Whether it is colleges, schools or hospitals, there are problems in panchayats everywhere,” he said.
Known for his sarcasm-laced aggressive speeches, Ghosh couldn’t resist taking a dig at the Trinamul Congress.
“Bengal has many issues. But the biggest problem was the TMC; the people have dealt with that. The rest we will handle,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.
As evidence of the administrative actions initiated by the present regime, Ghosh pointed to recent Cabinet decisions aimed at facilitating long-pending border infrastructure projects.
For Ghosh, border management and rural governance are both linked to a broader promise of administrative reform made by the BJP during the 2026 Assembly election campaign.
Ghosh, one of the principal architects of the BJP’s rise in Bengal over the past decade, accused the previous TMC regime of compromising national security by allowing infiltration across the state’s international borders.
“They (TMC) put the nation at risk. They allowed Bangladeshis and Rohingyas to cross over into Bengal just because of vote-bank politics. Now this party will cease to exist.”