Within a day of the Bharatiya Janata Party winning the assembly elections in West Bengal on May 4, several instances of majoritarian muscle flexing and communal intimidation were reported from various corners of the state.
Case 1 & 2: North 24 Parganas
Several youths scaled a decorative gateway arch of Masjid Bari Road in Barasat’s Noapara area, broke off the letterings, and replaced them with a hoarding reading “Netaji Pally.”
Bengali youth in Barasat renamed “Barasat Masjid Bari Road” to “Netaji Palli Road” pic.twitter.com/hM40skuAHW
— IronHeart (@iron_heart9) May 4, 2026
CRPF personnel in helmets can be seen standing at the back of the crowd as people celebrate, amid a haze of saffron gulal.
A park named Siraj Udyan in Champadali, Barasat, was also ‘renamed’ to Shibaji Udyan.
In a video of the incident, workers can be seen scaling the park gate while chanting ‘Jay Sri Ram’ slogans, breaking a miniature sculpture of Siraj-ud-Daulah carved above it, and putting up a banner reading “Shibaji Udyan” in Bengali.
Zee 24 Ghanta quoted a BJP supporter, Anirban Biswas, as saying: “No one named Nawab Sirajudaulla or Siraj has ever come to Barasat. Siraj has no role here. But a park was named Siraj Udyan right next to us, and the people of Barasat did not take it well. And then there is Masjidbari Road. How many booths do Muslims have there? Two. Will a road be named Masjidbari Road for two booths? The common people went and changed it to Netajipalli Road. The BJP did not do this; the common people did. If they feel they can do something more to build Sonar Bangla, they can. It has to be constitutional, it has to have the support of the common people.”
The reporter did not ask him if Shivaji had come to Barasat.
Case 3: Bongaon, North 24 Parganas
Saffron-clad BJP workers approached a biryani shop located next to a temple in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, and asked the staff to move the shop elsewhere. In a video that has since gone viral, one of them can be heard telling a shop worker: “If we did this outside a mosque, you would feel bad too.”
The nightmare has already begun.
Flag-bearing BJP thugs are going door to door, threatening non-veg shops and biryani sellers, ordering them to shut down, relocate, and erase their names. This is not a rumour. This is happening in Bengal, today, right now. This is the… pic.twitter.com/Yu0S91JgTA
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) May 5, 2026
The official X handle of Trinamool Congress shared the video, calling it a ‘nightmare’, saying, “Give them another day and they will move to ban the sale and consumption of non-veg food altogether. They will stand at your doorstep and dictate what you can eat, what you can cook, and what you can serve your children. They will impose their dietary diktat on a land whose identity, whose culture, whose very soul is inseparable from its food, its flavours, and its freedom of choice.”
Case 4: Lalbagh, Murshidabad
BJP workers stormed into and vandalised the Lalbagh Eidgah in Murshidabad. In a video circulating online, saffron-clad workers can be seen aggressively breaking a tin barricade and forcing their way into the field amid chants of “Jai Shi Ram.”
We spoke to local sources, who confirmed that the incident did take place around 12 noon on May 5. The land, originally a Waqf property, was under judicial dispute, and the court had ordered the barricade to remain in place till the matter is resolved.
Zamir Molla, CPI(M) Murshidabad district committee secretary, told Alt News, “Under the leadership of a BJP leader, BJP workers from the town were mobilised and the tin barricade at the site was broken in the presence of the IC and central forces. Around 2 pm, the secretary of the mosque committee, Md. Kabirul Islam, along with a few members, met the IC of local police station and filed a written complaint. They also informed the SDPO and the SP of the matter over phone,”.
Case 5: New Market, Kolkata
Near Sir Stuart Hogg Market, better known as New Market, a rally featuring a bulldozer brought down a TMC party office outside the complex, with music blaring and supporters celebrating.
People holding BJP flags could be seen standing on the bucket of the bulldozer.
Alt News reached the spot shortly after, and eyewitnesses told us that Lalbazar police, New Market police, and CRPF personnel were present throughout but did nothing. TMC MP Derek O’Brien also alleged that a meat shop was razed to the ground, though no eyewitness corroborated this despite specific questions.
Separately, and around the same time, another shop, directly opposite the KMC headquarters, was also demolished. Locals alleged the owner was a TMC supporter and was targeted for that reason.
Of late, the bulldozer has been an instrument of criminal justice in BJP ruled states. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has been one of the main proponents of the system, in which bulldozers are deployed by the authorities to raze down the house or shop of an accused even before a case or a dispute reaches a judicial closure. The popularity of the controversial system has earned Adityanath the moniker, Bulldozer Baba. In an election rally at Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, on May 17, 2024, PM Modi referred to ‘bulldozer justice’, asking the Opposition to learn from Yogi Adityanath how to use the bulldozer.
With inputs from Anindya Hazra
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