West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026: Ahead of West Bengal assembly elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is making all the moves that matter. She is not only countering the BJP’s appeasement politics charge, Banerjee has not only acted against her MLA but also gone a step ahead with pro-Hindutva events. At a time when the now expelled TMC MLA Humanyu Kabir has laid the foundation stone of Babari Mosque in Bengal, Mamata Banerjee on Monday laid the foundation stone for Durga Angan, the Goddess Durga temple at New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata. Durga Angan will be set up over an area of 2 lakh square feet of land.
While Banerjee symbolically countered the Babari foundation event with the Durga temple foundation, she also announced that the stone-laying ceremony of the Mahakal (Lord Shiva) temple at Siliguri in the Darjeeling district will be held in the second week of next month.
Banerjee also claimed that although she had equal respect for all religions, she was being questioned only for attending the Ramzan functions. “I try to maintain the rituals attached to that religion whose rituals I attend…In West Bengal, no one would be able to divide people in the name of religion,” the Chief Minister said, reacting to the appeasement charges levelled by the BJP.
However, the BJP termed the event as a cover-up for the failure of the Messi event. BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a statement on social media on Monday, claiming that after the chaos surrounding the recent event at Salt Lake Stadium showcasing Argentine football star Lionel Messi, the Chief Minister was now set to “taint the image of Goddess Durga”.
While the political slugfest will continue unabated, Mamata Banerjee has hit the right chords needed to tame the BJP’s aggressive polarisation pitch, feel experts. Banerjee’s recent moves reflect a calibrated political strategy aimed at blunting the BJP’s core electoral weapon in West Bengal—religious polarisation. Political analysts note that by acting swiftly against her own MLA over the Babari Mosque foundation stone and simultaneously laying the foundation for prominent Hindu religious projects like the Durga Angan temple and the proposed Mahakal temple in Siliguri, Banerjee is repositioning herself as a leader who cannot be easily boxed into the BJP’s “appeasement politics” narrative.
This approach helps her on multiple fronts. First, it reassures a section of Hindu voters—especially the culturally rooted but politically fluid middle ground—that the TMC is not indifferent or hostile to Hindu sentiments. By anchoring her actions in Bengal’s cultural symbols, particularly Durga, Banerjee reinforces her long-standing image as the custodian of Bengali identity, something the BJP has struggled to fully appropriate, they said.
Second, by emphasising equal respect for all religions while publicly correcting deviations within her party, Banerjee projects authority and balance. This allows her to neutralise BJP attacks without alienating minority voters, who remain a crucial pillar of TMC’s support base.
Crucially, these symbolic gestures disrupt the BJP’s binary narrative of “appeasement versus Hindutva”. Instead of reacting defensively, Banerjee is shaping the discourse, forcing the BJP to attack her actions rather than dictate the agenda. While critics may dismiss the moves as optics, in a state where symbolism, culture and identity politics matter deeply, Banerjee’s strategy could significantly soften the BJP’s polarisation edge ahead of the assembly elections.
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