Several instances of alleged communal intimidation and vandalism were reported in West Bengal on Tuesday, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party won the Assembly elections in the state.
Winning 207 of the 294 Assembly seats, the BJP defeated the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the results announced on Monday, ending its 15-year rule in the state.
Early on Tuesday, BJP workers climbed a gate named Masjid Bari Road in the Moyna area in North 24 Pargana’s Barasat town and took down the nameplate, India Today reported. The workers then replaced the nameplate with a hoarding that read “Netaji Pally Road”.
Nitish Mondal, a BJP leader, said it had been the party’s long-standing demand that the road be renamed.
“We have been requesting this for the last 10-15 years, but could not do it,” India Today quoted Mondal as saying.
He also claimed that of the 15,000 residents living in this area, the Muslim population is about 500 to 1,000. “So the people of the area spontaneously took part and changed the name,” the BJP leader was quoted as saying.
In another incident in North 24 Parganas, BJP workers allegedly asked the staff of a biryani shop located near a temple in Bongaon to move the establishment elsewhere, Alt News reported.In a video circulated on social media, a person carrying a BJP flag could also be heard telling a worker at the shop: “If we did this outside a mosque, you would feel bad too.”
Sharing the video, the TMC on social media said that the “nightmare” had 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,” the party claimed. “This is not a rumour. This is happening in Bengal, today, right now.”
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 In Murshidabad district, BJP workers allegedly vandalised the Lalbagh Eidgah, Alt News reported. In videos circulating online, persons purported to be from the party could be seen breaking a barricade and forcing their way inside while shouting “Jai Shi Ram”.
The land was originally a waqf property and had been under judicial dispute, according to Alt News.
The court had earlier ordered the barricade to remain in place till the matter is resolved.
A waqf is an endowment under Islamic law dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Zamir Molla told Alt News that BJP workers broke the barricade in the presence of security forces. He added that the secretary of the mosque committee has filed a complaint with the police.
Similarly, several structures, including a TMC office, were vandalised by a mob carrying flags of the BJP in the New Market area of Kolkata on Tuesday. Videos widely shared on social media showed the group using a bulldozer to raze a structure.
Among the structures vandalised was the TMC’s New Market Union office, which was allegedly the primary target of the mob. TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien claimed that the bulldozer had been “brought in to demolish meat shops” as part of the BJP’s “victory celebration”.
The central forces were “standing around”, he claimed on social media.
Police personnel were deployed at the spot following the incident and security arrangements have been increased in the area, also known as the Hogg Market.
While it is unclear what triggered the act of vandalism and the sequence of events, the TMC accused the BJP leadership of enabling the violence.
On Tuesday, the TMC alleged that one of its workers had been murdered by members of the BJP hours after the poll results became known.
After reports emerged of violence following the election results, the BJP claimed that the incidents of vandalism were the result of internal rifts within the TMC, and that some of those carrying out violence were using the Hindutva party’s flags.
Police response
West Bengal Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta on Wednesday said that more than 200 first information reports had been filed and 433 persons had been arrested in specific cases of violence, ANI reported.
He added that more than 1,100 persons had also been arrested under preventive sections.
“As a result, no untoward incident has taken place since this [Wednesday] morning,” ANI quoted him as saying.
Gupta also noted that two deaths had been reported in Nanoor and New Town.
In Paschim Medinipur, Superintendent of Police Papiya Sultana said that incidents of violence had been reported across the district, the news agency reported. However, the situation had been brought under control since Tuesday night.
She added that 162 persons had been arrested in the district for unrest.
“And if anyone dares to create unrest, then we will be stricter,” the news agency quoted Sultan as saying. “Everyone from the police to the constables has been told, regardless of who won or lost, that the job of the police is to protect the common man.”
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