Opinion | 'Didi-Modi Tacit Pact' Narrative Is Dead After Fierce BJP Fightback In West Bengal

The perceived bonhomie—which could have been merely political cordiality—has been shattered in 2026

First, there were whispers. Those whispers slowly became conversation, then belief, and eventually a persistent theory across lakhs of households, offices, and street corners in West Bengal.

People said PM Narendra Modi and CM Mamata Banerjee had a secret understanding. They had each other’s backs.

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People wondered why TMC had an all-out confrontational approach against the BJP outside but behaved differently with the Modi government in Parliament. On many critical Bills, TMC MPs either walked out or abstained instead of waging a war of attrition or voting en bloc against the government.

They cited the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAA), which TMC vocally opposed in public but did not create a sustained parliamentary roadblock.

TMC criticised the 2020 farm laws, but its MPs mostly walked out during key debates. Such walkouts dwindled House numbers and made it easy for the BJP to pass several economic and security-related Bills.

The BJP did its bit to contribute to the “Didi-Modi nexus" theory. In spite of repeatedly accusing Mamata Banerjee of corruption, syndicate raj, political violence, and infiltration, the Modi government did not take big steps like getting Mamata or Abhishek Banerjee arrested, imposing President’s Rule, or using the governor’s office more aggressively. Central agencies like ED and CBI acted against some TMC leaders like Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal, but bail was reasonably quick and the major cases moved slowly.

The Centre continued normal financial and administrative relations with West Bengal and the two governments cooperated on disaster relief and the occasional law-and-order support.

It was thought that Modi wanted to have Mamata as a weapon against Rahul Gandhi and to torpedo Opposition unity. Mamata, in turn, got it easy in the state.

But the perceived bonhomie—which could have been merely political cordiality—has been shattered in 2026. The assembly election campaign has reduced this perception to dust.

Both sides are now locked in a vitriolic, no-holds-barred battle.

The BJP rhetoric has been consistently aggressive, especially from PM Modi himself, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, and the likes of Suvendu Adhikari and Dilip Ghosh at the state level. They repeatedly called Mamata’s government “corrupt", “syndicate-ridden", and “anti-development".

But more than talk, the BJP’s actions have been decisive in shattering the perception of an unwritten deal.

It tenaciously pushed the SIR exercise despite bitter opposition and got 92 lakh dead, shifted, fake, and illegal voters’ names off the roll.

After that was the unprecedented deployment of 2.4 lakh central security force personnel to ensure polls free of intimidation and violence. Hundreds of TMC-leaning, biased officers were transferred. Judicial officers were brought in to conduct polls. A central election monitoring room has been set up with cameras in each of the booths.

There could not have been a clearer statement of intent.

Today, nobody in West Bengal is talking about the so-called secret Didi-Modi pact. That de-hyphenation itself could bear fruit for the BJP on May 4.

Abhijit Majumder is the author of the book ‘India’s New Right’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views

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