Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kolkata on Saturday for a visit West Bengal’s Nadia district to inaugurate national highway projects and address a public rally, amid heightened political tensions in the state over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
This is Modi’s first visit to West Bengal since the publication of the draft SIR rolls and his third visit to the state in the past five months.
"The PM arrived at the N S C Bose International Airport at 10:33 am and boarded a helicopter for Nadia," an official said.
Political observers said the Prime Minister is expected to use the rally to address growing unease among members of the Matua community following the release of the draft rolls.
The BJP rally will be held in the Taherpur area of Ranaghat, strategically located close to Bongaon, the heartland of the Namasudra Hindu community.
Observers believe Modi may also use the occasion to signal the party’s formal campaign push for the West Bengal Assembly elections due early next year and outline the BJP’s roadmap for the polls.
Announcing his visit on Friday evening, the Prime Minister took aim at the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
“The people of West Bengal are benefiting from numerous pro-people initiatives of the central government. At the same time, they are suffering due to the TMC’s misgovernance in every sector,” Modi posted on X.
“The loot and intimidation of the TMC have crossed all limits. That is why, BJP is the people’s hope,” he added.
Modi’s visit comes amid sustained opposition by the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC to the SIR exercise, which the party alleges is being conducted in “haste” and could disenfranchise a large number of genuine voters, particularly refugee Hindus.
According to the draft electoral rolls published after the enumeration phase, 58,20,899 names have been excluded, reducing the total electorate to 7.08 crore.
Around 1.36 crore entries have been flagged for “logical discrepancies”, while nearly 30 lakh voters have been categorised as unmapped.
A significant number of these voters are likely to be called for verification hearings over the next 45 days.
The exercise has triggered fresh anxiety among the Matuas, a Dalit Hindu community that migrated from Bangladesh over several decades due to religious persecution. Political observers estimate that the community holds electoral influence in as many as 80 of the state’s 294 Assembly constituencies.
Speculation is rife that substantial numbers of Matua voters have already been excluded from the draft rolls, with many more potentially facing exclusion from the final rolls due to the absence of Election Commission-specified documents required during the verification process.
In recent years, election results have shown the BJP making significant inroads among the Matua community, largely on the promise of formal Indian citizenship. BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar, who represents the Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency where Taherpur is located, alleged that fear was being deliberately spread among the community over the SIR exercise.
“We are hopeful that the PM's message would dispel those fears and canards,” Sarkar said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already led anti-SIR rallies in Nadia and North 24 Parganas, the two neighbouring districts bordering Bangladesh that have a sizeable Matua population.
During his visit, Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for two national highway projects worth around Rs 3,200 crore. He will inaugurate the 66.7-km four-laning of the Barajaguli–Krishnanagar section of National Highway 34 in Nadia district and lay the foundation stone for the four-laning of the 17.6-km Barasat–Barajaguli section in North 24 Parganas.
Officials said the projects are expected to serve as a vital connectivity link between Kolkata and Siliguri, boosting trade, tourism and economic activity across the southern and northern regions of West Bengal.
