Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday sought to frame the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections as a “battle over infiltration, national security and appeasement politics”, while releasing a political “chargesheet” against the TMC government and asserting that the outcome would have implications not only for the state but also for the country’s security.At a press conference here, Shah mounted a multi-pronged attack on the ruling TMC over infiltration, minority appeasement, corruption, women’s safety, political violence and economic decline, arguing that after 15 years of Mamata Banerjee’s rule, West Bengal had become the country’s “last remaining route” for illegal immigration and a symbol of what he called “fear, syndicate raj and vote-bank politics”.In doing so, Shah appeared to unveil a sharper BJP template for West Bengal — one that moves beyond the old promise of ‘Sonar Bangla’ (golden Bengal) and instead seeks to turn the 2026 election into a contest over “fear (bhay) and trust (bharosa)”.”Mamata Didi has always played the politics of the victim card before elections. Sometimes she talks about her injury; sometimes she abuses the Election Commission. But the people of West Bengal now understand Mamata Didi’s victim card politics very well,” Shah said, accusing her of opposing the SIR exercise only to protect the TMC’s “infiltrator vote bank”.”The West Bengal elections are important not only for the state but also for the entire country. The nation’s security, in a way, is linked to the West Bengal polls,” he said.Seeking to make infiltration the central axis of the BJP’s campaign, Shah claimed that after the BJP came to power in Assam, illegal entry routes through that state had been “almost shut”, leaving West Bengal as the principal gateway through which infiltrators enter India and fan out across the country.”West Bengal is the only state from where infiltrators are entering the country and creating disturbances across the country. Infiltration from bordering areas of the state is a matter of concern for national security,” he alleged.Shah claimed that “artificial demographic change” caused by infiltration had left the majority Hindu community living in fear and said, “The 2026 assembly elections would be a choice between fear and trust.”             The attack was closely tied to Shah’s criticism of Banerjee’s opposition to the SIR, which the BJP appears keen to make another major plank of its 2026 campaign.”SIR has taken place in other states too, but nowhere has it been made such an issue. It has become an issue in West Bengal only because Mamata Banerjee wants to protect her vote bank. Abusing constitutional bodies like the EC is not part of Bengali culture,” Shah said.Seeking to link the exercise directly to the BJP’s infiltration narrative, Shah asked whether “those infiltrators” who had allegedly entered West Bengal should be allowed to vote and “determine the future of the state”.”We will not only remove infiltrators from the voter list but also from the country,” he said.Shah linked the issue to the strategically sensitive Siliguri Corridor, the narrow stretch connecting the Northeast with the rest of India.”Due to appeasement and vote-bank politics of the TMC government, the security of the Siliguri Corridor is being threatened,” he said.Shah also accused the Mamata Banerjee government of refusing to provide land for fencing along the India-Bangladesh border despite repeated requests from the Centre.”The TMC government has not provided land for erecting fences in bordering areas. They want to create a vote bank of infiltrators,” he alleged.”On May 6, the BJP government will be formed in West Bengal, and within 45 days, the land required for fencing the border will be provided to the Centre, and we will stop infiltration,” he said.But if Shah sought to frame the election as one between “fear and trust”, the TMC moved quickly to launch a counter-offensive, accusing the BJP of trying to communalise and polarise the electorate ahead of the polls.Hours after Shah’s press conference, senior TMC leaders held a joint briefing and released what they called a counter-chargesheet against the Union Home Minister.”Amit Shah is talking about women’s security. What is the condition of women’s safety in BJP-ruled states? He should answer it,” TMC MP Mahua Moitra said.The TMC also attacked Shah on the violence in Manipur.The party leaders said that Shah should first answer about violence in Manipur, which has been “bleeding continuously for the last three years”.The party further questioned why the Centre and the EC had not publicly disclosed the names of foreign nationals allegedly found on electoral rolls after SIR.Shah also widened his attack to what he described as the broader “misrule” of the Mamata Banerjee government.The “people’s chargesheet” released by the BJP accused the TMC regime of institutionalising ‘syndicate raj’, encouraging corruption and political violence, and presiding over industrial decline.”This chargesheet is a compilation of the dark deeds of the TMC government over 15 years. Under TMC’s misrule, West Bengal has turned into a laboratory for corruption. Criminal syndicates are tormenting the public. In the absence of development, West Bengal has become, in a way, a graveyard for industry,” Shah alleged.The BJP leader also accused the state government of extending OBC benefits on religious grounds.”Mamata Banerjee included 77 communities in the OBC category, out of which 75 are Muslim communities. Will the OBC list now be decided on the basis of religion? The majority community has faced a lot of injustice,” he said.The party also appeared keen to turn the 2026 election into a direct face-off between Banerjee and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, with Shah praising Adhikari for extensively touring the state and taking up issues such as infiltration, economic distress and “anarchy”.