Kumar Bahukhandi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting ahead of the Kerala Assembly elections in Thiruvalla, Kerala, on April 4, 2026. | Photo Credit: YouTube/@NarendraModi via PTI
The real culprits behind Malda violence escaped and the NIA targets innocent people, says West Bengal CM Mamata
Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a campaign in Thiruvalla, Kerala, on Saturday April 4, 2026 said that the NDA government has not spared any effort for Kerala’s development despite there being no BJP rule in State.
“Basic infrastructure in Kerala’s rural areas is poor because the LDF and UDF did not pay attention. NDA will ensure development in Kerala as it did in the northeast and Goa, which have significant Christian populations,” he said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday April 4, 2026 claimed that while the real culprits behind the violence and gherao of judicial officers in Malda district’s Mothabari have escaped, the NIA is picking up innocent local people and harassing them.
Addressing an election rally at Manikchak in Malda, she urged the gathering not to approach judicial officers scrutinising ‘under adjudication’ cases post-SIR, instead submit applications before tribunals for re-inclusion of names of those erroneously removed from the voters’ list.
“Two communal parties gheraoed the judges and escaped. Now, local youths are being harassed by the NIA. They have picked up some 50 innocent people in the name of investigations,” Mamta Banerjee said, ostensibly referring to the ISF and the AIMIM.
She let out a gasp of disbelief from the dais after an overwhelming number of hands were raised from those attending the public meeting when Banerjee asked for a show of hands of those whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls.
Assam, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry will go to the polls on April 9, 2026. In Tamil Nadu, the election will be conducted on April 23. The first phase of elections will be held on April 23, 2026, in West Bengal, and the second phase on April 29, 2026. The counting for all these elections will be held on May 4, 2026.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Saturday April 4, 2026 alleged that the previous Congress governments in Assam had turned Barak Valley into a “crime hub” for vote bank politics.
He said people punished the grand old party for its “politics of appeasement of infiltrators” by voting it out of power in the State.
Addressing a poll rally in support of the party’s Ram Krishna Nagar candidate in Sribhumi district, Mr. Nabin said, “Previous governments had turned Barak Valley into a crime hub for vote bank politics. The politics of appeasement was at its peak as Congress governments were more concerned about infiltrators than the local people.” He said people decided to “punish” the Congress and voted it out of power, and installed a BJP-led NDA government with a “clear vision for development”.
