Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the Trinamul Congress (TMC), launched a fierce attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata, throwing down the gauntlet for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. Paying homage to the 13 youth Congress workers killed in the police firing on this day in 1993, Banerjee knelt in reverence at the memorial before addressing a packed gathering in central Kolkata. The Diamond Harbour MP positioned the BJP—not the CPI(M) or the Congress—as TMC’s principal political adversary in the state. “In BJP-ruled states, Bengalis are being persecuted. Earlier they chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Now, under pressure, they are saying ‘Jai Ma Kali’ and ‘Jai Ma Durga’. After 2026, we’ll make them say ‘Joy Bangla’,” said Banerjee, without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His remark came in the wake of Modi invoking Hindu goddesses at a recent rally in Durgapur. Setting the tone for the 2026 elections, Banerjee declared, “In Bengal, BJP is our only enemy. We will send them to a democratic detention camp.” He accused the BJP of attempting to suppress West Bengal’s identity and culture through coercive tactics, including federal investigative agencies and electoral manipulation. “The BJP calls Bengali speakers Bangladeshis. It has been 15 days since the Assam Chief Minister made such a comment. What action has the Centre taken?” Banerjee asked, adding that Trinamool MPs would not hesitate to speak in Bengali in Parliament to assert linguistic pride. Banerjee alleged that the BJP, unable to win popular support in Bengal, was using the Election Commission, the CBI, and the ED to subvert the electoral process and target opposition leaders. “They have failed to write their name on Bengal’s soil, so now they conspire from behind the scenes,” he said. He closed with a call for BJP’s ouster from the state in the next polls. “I don’t make predictions lightly. But when I do, I mean it. The trash that remains must be swept into the Bay of Bengal. In 2021, I said ‘Khela Hobe’—this time, I say uproot the lotus,” he thundered. In a pointed challenge to the Centre, he concluded, “We will not sell our spine. Do your worst—we won’t be silenced.”