BJP leaders on Wednesday sought to give a communal colour to Mamata Banerjee’s “Mrityu Kumbh” remark, said in the context of the January 29 stampede deaths and other casualties attributed to mismanagement of the Mahakumbh.

In a brazen attempt to further the BJP’s divisive agenda, Amit Malviya, the party’s social media head, accused the Bengal chief minister of trying to turn the state into an “Islamic Caliphate” and exhorted Hindus to “fight back”.

“Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Mrityu Kumbh’ remark is not just a casual, off-the-cuff comment but a calculated dog whistle aimed at her Muslim vote bank in West Bengal. The underlying message is clear: ‘Vote for me, and I will let you turn Bengal into an Islamic Caliphate’,” Malviya said in an X post.

He referred to the attack on Hindus in Bangladesh and exhorted the majority community to “rise” and defeat Mamata.

“Now it is up to the Hindus of Bengal to decide — do they want to meet the same fate as their brethren in Bangladesh, or will they rise, fight, and defeat Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, just as they obliterated Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, infamously known as the Butcher of Bengal, who orchestrated the Direct Action Day massacres?” Malviya said in the long post.

“Let the 2026 Assembly election be the ‘Mrityu Kumbh’ for Mamata Banerjee’s dark regressive politics,” Malviya added, attaching a video of Mamata’s remarks in the Bengal Assembly on Tuesday.

Bengal goes to polls next year and the BJP latched on to the Trinamool chief’s remark to derive maximum political mileage.

Hours after Malviya’s post, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath hit out at Mamata and Opposition leaders such as Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, accusing them of playing with the faith of Hindus.

“Your (SP’s) ally Lalu Yadav is saying ‘Kumbh faltu hai’. So, for him this mega event of Sanatan Dharma is ‘faltu’. One more ally has said that the Mahakumbh has become ‘Mrityu Kumbh’. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has claimed thousands died in the stampede…,” Adityanath said, speaking in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Adityanath, who is seen to be using the religious congregation to boost his brand as a Hindutva icon, asked if organising a Sanatan Dharma event on a grand scale was a “crime”.

“I want to ask the RJD and TMC leaders — is being a follower of Sanatan Dharma or organising a Sanatan Dharma event on a grand scale a crime? If it is a crime then our government is committing this crime and will continue to do so because we believe that Sanatan Dharma is the national religion of this country,” he said.

Adityanath claimed that more than 56.25 crore devotees had already taken the holy dip at the Mahakumbh so far and stressed that the remarks of the Opposition leaders were “like playing with the faith of these 56 crore people”.

The chief minister termed the Opposition’s allegations of mismanagement politically motivated and dismissed a report on water contamination at the Mahakumbh. He claimed in the Assembly that the river water was not only fit for bathing but also for performing “aachman (drinking)”.

A Central Pollution Control Board report had on Tuesday said that the river water at the Mahakumbh contained high levels of bacteria that indicated contamination with human or animal faecal waste, making it unsuitable for bathing.