Assembly Elections 2026: How BJP Tried To Appropriate Bengali Icons

During this assembly election in Bengal, the names of great Bengali icons were frequently mentioned, mainly by leaders of the ruling party and the principal opposition. Indeed, in earlier elections too, politicians often invoked these figures to validate their arguments. But this time, the trend was even more pronounced. One reason for this is that the BJP is determined to establish itself as a party for Bengalis. In 2021, many believed that the Bharatiya Janata Party would take over West Bengal. But that did not happen. Once the results were out, it became clear that the 2021 election had become a battle between Bengali identity (Bangali Asmita) and a non-Bengali party like the BJP. In this battle, the BJP lost because it could not establish itself as a party of Bengalis.

Why do the people of West Bengal not consider BJP a Bengali party? There are several reasons. It is true that the Hindu Mahasabha was founded in Bengal, and it is also true that BJP venerates Syama Prasad Mookerjee almost like a deity. But if looked closely, it becomes clear that none of BJP’s key leaders have been Bengali for a long time. The BJP has been in power in the centre for the last 15 years, and candidates from West Bengal have twice been present in good numbers in Parliament, but yet, under Narendra Modi's leadership, no Bengali has been given any significant ministerial responsibility in the union government.

In recent years, the images of Ram and Hanuman have been seen on flags across West Bengal, but to Bengalis, these representations of Ram and Hanuman are unfamiliar. Why?  Because both have rather fierce visages, and Ram, in these depictions, appears as nothing but a warrior. But, the Ram of the Bengalis is Krittibas Ojha’s Ram. Krittibas, using the soft silt of Bengal, recreated Valmiki’s Ram. Krittibas’s Ram is indeed a warrior, but first and foremost, he is a sensitive man—one who grieves and laments to Lakshman after losing Sita to Ravana. The Hindu deities worshipped in BJP-ruled states are also not important to Hindu Bengalis. The two principal deities for Hindu Bengalis are Durga and Kali. But in BJP-ruled states, these two goddesses are not the main deities at all. Although, in these states, Durga is present in many forms, Kali is hardly worshipped in North India.

This is why from the outset of this year’s election campaign in West Bengal, the BJP has tried mightily to project itself as a Bengali party. Narendra Modi began his campaign by invoking Goddess Kali. To prove that the Bengali favourite food, fish, is not taboo for the BJP, several non-Bengali BJP leaders ate fish in West Bengal during the campaign. BJP candidates in West Bengal even campaigned with fish in hand. All this is a desperate attempt by the BJP to become a Bengali party.

It is in this context that one must examine the BJP’s use of Bengali icons in this election. Almost every non-Bengali BJP leader has frequently invoked Bengali luminaries in their speeches. Mistakes have been made in this process. Just before the election, Amit Shah referred to Bankim Chandra as ‘Bankimda’ in Parliament, causing a stir in Bengal. Amit Shah made similar errors during the campaign, pronouncing Rabindra Sangeet as “Ravishankar” in his speech. Not only mispronunciations but also the distortion of important quotes by Bengali icons has occurred in BJP leaders’ speeches. For example, Yogi Adityanath claimed Swami Vivekananda’s call was, “Give us blood, and I will give you freedom.” It must be said here that, over the years, Bengalis have become somewhat accustomed to such slip-ups during Trinamool Congress rule. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself has a long record of such mistakes—she once sent Rakesh Roshan to the moon, and in a meeting at Sidhu-Kanu Dahar, has called to the dais the relatives of Dahar babu along with the relatives of Sidhu and Kanu. In this year’s election campaign, she has even claimed that Gandhi renounced his knighthood in protest of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Bengalis aren’t really perturbed by such errors anymore. Mamata Banerjee has been accepted by Bengalis with  mistakes of this kind. Most of these mistakes happen unintentionally—sometimes due to ignorance, sometimes due to lack of preparation. Sometimes they are just slips of the tongue. Such mistakes quickly become fodder for memes and jokes on Facebook. But honestly, these are harmless errors, not deliberate or malicious. They do not cause any great social or cultural harm. But there is another kind of error that is deliberate, with a deep underlying motive: the desire to appropriate the Bengali icons. In this election campaign, the BJP has systematically repeated this kind of error.

The most prominent example of this is the BJP’s use of Vivekananda. BJP Leaders have frequently said that Vivekananda had said, “Say with pride that we are Hindus.” Slogans, posters, and placards read: “Say with pride, I am a Hindu—Swami Vivekananda.” But Vivekananda did not say this only. In his Chicago speech, he also said: “I am proud to belong to a religion that has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.” Does the BJP practice this kind of Hinduism? Not at all. Even among refugees, the party seeks to identify by religion—who is Hindu, who is Muslim. Thus, the BJP has not used the whole Vivekananda in this election, only a fragmented version, which is not even a shadow of the real Vivekananda, but rather a distorted transformation.

Similarly, the BJP has used Rabindranath Tagore. In his election campaign, the Prime Minister quoted Tagore’s songs; Home Minister Amit Shah has repeatedly mentioned Tagore in his speeches. Maithili Thakur, an MLA from Bihar, came to campaign in Jorasanko and sang Tagore’s song “Jodi tor daak shune keu na ashe” (“If no one responds to your call”).

Before the Bengal elections, Yogi Adityanath renamed a village in Uttar Pradesh after Tagore. BJP leaders have also repeatedly said that they want to build “Sonar Bangla” (Golden Bengal)—a term created by Tagore. The question is: can the BJP really build Tagore’s “Sonar Bangla”? The “Sonar Bangla” BJP wants to create is actually a Bengal built on religious identity. It is clear from BJP leaders’ words that, just like their vision for India, their Bengal will be built on exclusion, not inclusion. For example, while Amit Shah quotes Tagore, he also threatens that if they come to power, a particular group will be expelled from the country. This is clearly the politics of exclusion. Tagore, on the other hand, always believed in the politics of inclusion. In his essay “Bharatbarsher Itihas” (The History of India), Tagore wrote: “India has always endeavored to establish unity among differences, to direct various paths towards a common goal, and to realise the unity within diversity—not by destroying apparent differences, but by grasping the inner connection.” In his poem “Bharattirtha,” he clearly stated that the essence of Indian culture is the absorption of Shak, Hun, Pathan, Mughal. Tagore stood on the opposite side of parochial and divisive politics. He had no faith in nationalism; he believed in the integration of Indian society. No doubt, had he been alive today, Tagore would have been branded the greatest traitor. Tagore’s Sonar Bangla is not just a land free of criminals and misrule, but one that respects and recognizes differences.

BJP has also tried to use Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in this election. BJP leaders often claim that they alone follow Netaji’s ideals and that only they have kept Netaji’s “Jai Hind” slogan alive. Recently, the Kolkata Airport Metro station was named “Jai Hind.” In one election, BJP even fielded Netaji’s grandson Chandra Kumar Bose as a candidate to establish this notion. Quite recently, however, Chandra Kumar Bose stated that one cannot follow Netaji’s ideals in a party like the BJP. Maybe he realized this late, but he was not wrong. Netaji considered the Hindu Mahasabha a communal force. In a speech at Jhargram on May 12, 1940, Subhas Chandra Bose said: “The Hindu Mahasabha is sending monks and nuns with tridents in hand to beg for votes. Seeing tridents and saffron robes, every Hindu bows their head. Using religion as an excuse, the Hindu Mahasabha has defiled religion in politics. Every Hindu must denounce this. Remove these traitors from your national life. Do not listen to them... The cry for a Hindu state is heard because Hindus are the majority in India. These are idle thoughts. There is no greater falsehood than the claim that Hindu and Muslim interests are separate. Disasters like floods, famine, and plague spare no one.” These words sound like today’s leftists. Let us not forget that Netaji’s Forward Bloc believes in leftist principles. Let us also not forget that many of the key commanders of the Indian National Army were Muslim. The iconic “Jai Hind” slogan was coined by Abid Hasan Safrani. This slogan was inclusive and had nothing to do with Hinduism.

Throughout the election, Trinamool Congress has repeatedly claimed that BJP is insulting Bengali icons. But the matter is deeper and more calculated than that. Relying on the politics of division to secure its vested interests, the BJP has used Bengali icons. In its effort to present itself as a party of Bengalis, the BJP has consistently used the names of Bengali icons, but only partially accepts them—never in totality. Whether this strategy will yield immediate results for the BJP will be known on May 4th. However, there is a more far-reaching consequence to this tactic. If the BJP continues to fragment and misuse the philosophies of Bengali icons, it could cause significant social and cultural damage to West Bengal. An entire generation may grow up knowing the ideals of Bengali icons only through the BJP’s lens, never in full. The tragedy is that while the Trinamool Congress has stopped at merely accusing the BJP of insulting Bengali icons, it has not adequately addressed the BJP’s distorted and partial portrayal of their ideals. The leftist parties have also not been vocal enough about this.

The real tragedy is that by appropriating Vivekananda, Rabindranath, and Netaji, the BJP is trying to present them to a new generation as icons of an ideology that they themselves opposed throughout their lives and works. It is far more urgent to protest the appropriation and the distorted presentation of Bengali icons and their ideals than simply to protest their insult. This has nothing to do with the election results. All Bengali icons were broad-minded. It will be the collective responsibility of all the political parties and the Bengali intellectuals in the future to dissociate the ideals of the Bengali icons from any form of parochialism and narrowness.