New Delhi: The political climate in Bengal, already a heated battleground between the ruling Trinamool and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of next month’s by-polls for six Assembly seats, escalated further on Sunday following actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty’s violent remarks in Kolkata.
Chakraborty, 74, referenced a pre-Lok Sabha election statement by Trinamool’s Humayun Kabir, who had threatened workers from rival parties on religious grounds and faced censure from the Election Commission. He urged BJP supporters to “chop them up and bury them in the ground.”
“A leader claims there are 70 percent Muslims and 30 percent Hindus and threatens to ‘cut’ and toss them into the Bhagirathi… I expected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to respond, but she remained silent. So now I am saying, we will chop them up and bury them in the ground,” he declared.
“I am not the Chief Minister… but I am saying this,” the 74-year-old expressed passionately. “We will do whatever it takes to win the masnad (throne) of Bengal… it will belong to the BJP after the 2026 Assembly election.”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah was present at the event, where he had just honored the National Award-winning actor for receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award on October 8.
“I say it repeatedly… we will do anything (to win the 2026 election) … anything. I am stating this with Home Minister Amit Shahji here— we will do anything,” he warned ominously.
Chakraborty reiterated his threat, referring to the river as “our mother.” He proclaimed, “We will cut you up and throw you, not in the Bhagirathi because that is our mother, but we will bury you in the ground,” as the camera cut to Mr. Shah and other senior BJP leaders watching with smiles.
He then pounded the podium, declaring, “We will do anything… we will do anything,” and accused the Bengal state government of preventing the Hindu community from casting their votes.
This violent rhetoric followed a similarly shocking remark by Kabir in May while campaigning for the party’s Lok Sabha candidate in Murshidabad district. He allegedly stated, “You are 30 percent of the population here, but we are 70 percent… if you think you can demolish mosques and that Muslims will sit back and relax… you are wrong. I will leave politics if I don’t drown you people in the Bhagirathi…”
“Shoot Me… Let’s See How Many Bullets”
Speaking at a membership drive, Chakraborty urged BJP supporters to join the party’s karyakartas. “We want those who will fight… who can stand up and say, ‘Shoot me… let me see how many bullets you have,'” he said, taking a jab at the Trinamool over various incidents of pre- and post-poll violence in the state. “But we don’t want those who join for money.”
He issued a second violent threat: “If you cut down one fruit from our trees, we will cut down four of yours,” he stated, while Mr. Shah continued to observe impassively.
“No One Takes Him Seriously…”
The Trinamool swiftly responded, with party General Secretary Jay Prakash Majumdar dismissing Chakraborty as an inconsequential figure.
“No one takes him seriously as a political leader… The leader (the Trinamool’s Kabir) whose comment he referenced was censured (by the Election Commission). But now, in Amit Shah’s presence, Mithun Chakraborty is saying this… will he also be censured now?” Majumdar asked.
Amit Shah Criticizes Mamata
Before Chakraborty’s incendiary speech, Amit Shah accused the Chief Minister and her Trinamool party of “state-sponsored infiltration,” asserting that the BJP will form the next government.
“There is state-sponsored infiltration in Bengal, and the only way to stop this is to elect the BJP in 2026… Instead of Rabindrasangeet, today you hear bombs,” he stated.
“In 2026, the BJP will form the government with a two-thirds majority,” he declared.
Majumdar dismissed Shah’s “pathetic statement” with laughter, noting that the BJP had made similar claims before the 2019 and 2024 general elections, as well as the last Assembly election, only to be defeated each time.
