In an unprecedented mandate, the Bharatiya Janata Party swept the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2026, ending the 15-year rule of the All India Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. As the results poured in and celebrations began, social media found an unlikely protagonist behind the political shift, Lionel Messi.
Within minutes of the trends confirming a BJP landslide, fans flooded platforms with tongue-in-cheek takes, linking the party’s victory to Messi’s chaotic visit to Kolkata in 2025. What followed was a wave of memes, jokes and satirical posts that turned a political result into a sporting punchline.
“Messi came to Kolkata in 2011 and changed the West Bengal government. Messi came to Kolkata again in 2025 and changed the WB govt again. GOAT has unreal powers,” one user wrote.
The X users joked that Messi was BJP’s agent and accelerated TMC’s downfall in the state.
“BJP agent Messi kicked off the downfall of Didi,” while some went a step further, joking, “Messi did more than Modi in West Bengal.”
The humour, while exaggerated, draws from a real flashpoint in the state’s recent past, Messi’s ill-fated appearance at the Vivekananda Yuvabharati Salt Lake Stadium.
LIONEL MESSI’S VISIT TO KOLKATA
What was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event quickly spiralled into chaos. Fans who had paid premium prices were left disappointed as Messi’s time on the field lasted under 10 minutes. Surrounded by politicians, officials and security personnel, the Argentine star was unable to complete a planned lap of the stadium, leading to frustration in the stands.
The situation escalated soon after, with sections of the crowd resorting to vandalism, throwing bottles and damaging property as security scrambled to regain control. Visuals of angry fans and a visibly mismanaged event flooded social media, turning what should have been a celebratory occasion into a public relations disaster.
The fallout was immediate. Mamata Banerjee issued an apology and ordered an enquiry, while police detained the event’s organiser. The incident also triggered a political slugfest, with the BJP attacking the state government over the handling of the event.
In fact, the Messi fiasco became part of the BJP’s campaign narrative in the months leading up to the elections. In multiple campaign videos, the party accused the TMC of bringing “international shame” to Kolkata, a city long associated with its rich football culture. The messaging positioned the incident as symbolic of broader administrative failure.
BENGAL ELECTIONS: BJP OUSTS TMC
Months later, as the BJP surged across regions from North Bengal to key urban centres like Kolkata and Howrah, social media users cheekily connected the dots.
Of course, the electoral verdict was shaped by a range of political factors, from anti-incumbency to organisational strength on the ground. But in the internet’s version of events, the story was far simpler.
Somewhere between a chaotic stadium exit and a ballot box upset, Lionel Messi had, at least in meme lore, done it again.
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