Patna (Bihar) [India], April 22 (ANI): Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party can never win elections alone in India, Independent MP from Purnia, Pappu Yadav, on Tuesday said that the BJP cannot challenge West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the elections and cannot form the government in the state.

'Iss janam mein BJP Bengal mein success nahi ho sakti, Mamata Banerjee ko challenge nahi kar sakti (BJP cannot succeed in Bengal in this life, it cannot challenge Mamata Banerjee). The BJP can never win elections alone in India. They can win only by keeping a gun on someone's shoulder...Wherever the BJP will not form the government, it wants to rule under President's rule,' Pappu Yadav told reporters in Patna.

This comes after the BJP's claims that it would form the government in West Bengal in the 2026 assembly elections.

Following the Murshidabad violence, the BJP is attacking the West Bengal government and said that 'Hindus were threatened at gunpoint and forced to chant Islamic religious slogans.'

Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar accused CM Mamata Banerjee of pressuring authorities to send the victims back, questioning where they would go when their homes had been destroyed.

'Several incidents of this kind happened that day, and not just this, Hindus were held on gunpoint and forced to chant Islamic religious slogans. This will be the future of other Hindus who are staying in other parts of the state, who are thinking this problem is limited to Murshidabad... I want to ask about the whereabouts of the so-called intellectuals of Kolkata,' Majumdar said.

On April 11, violence reportedly began in the Muslim-majority Murshidabad district during a protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The protest escalated, leading to the killing of two people, injuries to several others, and property damage, forcing thousands to leave their homes for safer places.

The protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Act spread across other districts, including Malda, South 24 Parganas, and Hooghly, and involved incidents of arson, stone-pelting, and road blockades.

Following the violence, several families fled their homes. Many have migrated to the Pakur district in Jharkhand, while others are staying in relief camps set up in Malda. (ANI)