The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Monday, defeated the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, ending its 15-year rule in the state. This victory didn’t happen overnight. In a state where the BJP had almost no foothold a decade ago, Monday’s result might bring back memories of the vow made by BJP leader Amit Shah in Kolkata way back in December 2014.
Twelve years ago, at a rally in Kolkata’s Dharmatala, Amit Shah stood before a crowd and recalled a question Mamata Banerjee had asked about him. “Who is Amit Shah?” she had asked, recalled Shah.
His answer was simple, but it threw a challenge at the TMC. “I am Amit Shah, a small worker of the BJP,” Shah said, adding, “And I have come here to uproot the Trinamool Congress from the soil of Bengal.”
That video, long forgotten by many, resurfaced even as the BJP created history on May 4 by storming to power in the state. The reason is that the promise Shah made had come true.
The BJP on Monday easily crossed the 148-seat majority mark and is set to form the government. The Trinamool Congress, which ruled the state for 15 years continuously, has been pushed into a distant second place. It’s the first time that the BJP will be forming a government in West Bengal.
In the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, the BJP was leading or had won 207 of the 293 seats that went to polls. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC could manage around 80 seats.
HOW AMIT SHAH PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN BJP’S BENGAL VICTORY
A party that was almost invisible in Bengal a decade ago achieved this through patience and quiet work on the ground.
Amit Shah played a central role in delivering the victory. It must be noted that in 2016, the BJP won 3 seats in Bengal. In the next Assembly polls in 2021, it won 77 seats, before a full majority in 2026.
In the final stretch of the campaign, Shah camped in the state for nearly two weeks. He ran a high-energy schedule — addressing over 50 rallies and roadshows by day, while holding late-night strategy meetings with state leaders to fine-tune the campaign on the ground.
His team focused on key voter issues — women’s safety, corruption, and governance failures.
Shah’s public announcements, including implementing the Seventh Pay Commission for government employees and promising strict law and order, seemingly struck a chord with voters. After the first phase, his confident claim that the BJP was on track to win over 110 seats created a strong psychological momentum.
HOW BJP GREW IN WEST BENGAL WITHIN A DECADE
When Amit Shah made that promise in 2014, the BJP had almost no organisational base in West Bengal.
Its early electoral record reflects that marginal presence. A vote share of just 0.58% in 1982 and 0.51% in 1987. Though it rose to 11.34% in 1991, the party still failed to win a single seat. The numbers dipped again to 6.45% in 1996 and 5.19% in 2001, with zero seats in both elections, before falling further to 1.93% in 2006.
Even in 2011, with a 4.06% vote share, the BJP remained electorally insignificant. It was only from 2016 onwards that its vote share began translating into actual seats, marking a turning point in its rise in the state.
Most Bengalis saw the BJP as a “north Indian party” that did not understand Bengal’s culture or language. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC seemed invincible. But the BJP did not give up. It started small.
Party workers began visiting villages and mohallas, one booth at a time. They quietly built teams of local leaders who spoke Bengali and understood local problems.
Then, in the last few years, sandeshkhali-violence-probe-files-case-against-ex-trinamool-leader-shahjahan-sheikh-2751511-2025-07-06″ target=”_self”>issues like the Sandeshkhali violence, the RG Kar hospital case, and growing anger over corruption slowly turned the public mood against the TMC.
On polling days, a record 92-93% turnout showed something had changed. This “silent wave” became visible only when the results came out on Monday. A video of Amit Shah’s promise from 2014 resurfaced. The “small time BJP worker” had kept his promise, 12 years after being asked who he was.
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