Opinion | Why West Bengal Embraced Jai Shri Ram, Alleged Rallying Cry Of ‘Outsiders’

The slogan is now regularly heard during anti-TMC protests, Durga Puja celebrations, and even street-corner gatherings

This is a state that has Ram in the name of its most beloved patron saint, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa; where Ram mandirs and Ramrajatala are scattered across its sacred geography; and where Prabhu Sri Chaitanya chanted, “Hare Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Hare."

Still, in the same West Bengal, Leftists and the TMC had made Sri Ram an “outsider" so that the umbilical link between Hindu Bengalis and the rest of Bharat snapped. So that Hindu Bengalis remain like an island exposed to the whims and vagaries of the same Islamists who perpetrated genocide after genocide in this land and yet remain the most prized vote bank.

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But now with their backs on the wall because of rapid demographic change, cultural takeover, and unceasing violence, the same Hindu Bengalis are resisting tooth and nail.

And their rallying cry in this resistance has been, ironically, “Jai Shri Ram."

In spite of relentless attempts to portray the slogan as north Indian, alien to Bengali cultural ethos, and even violent, West Bengal has adopted it. Not just migrants from other states but even local Bengalis are keeping it close to their hearts and ready on their lips.

Massive Ram Navami processions in the last 10 years or so in Kolkata, Howrah, Durgapur, Asansol, Siliguri, and several other towns are a testimony to that. Ram Navami rallies have seen lakhs of Bengalis enthusiastically chanting it. Such has been its power that this year, Trinamool leaders were seen screaming “Jai Shri Ram" at Ram Navami processions the party has lately been compelled to organise because of the festival’s rising popularity. There was a time when CM Mamata Banerjee would throw angry fits if some pesky citizen arrogated to raise the slogan in her presence.

In BJP events, whether fronted by national leaders like PM Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, or UP CM Yogi Adityanath, or by local party leaders like Suvendu Adhikari and Dilip Ghosh, Bengali crowds have taken up the chant vocally and spontaneously.

The slogan is now regularly heard during anti-TMC protests, Durga Puja celebrations, and even street-corner gatherings. Middle-class Bengali Hindu youth increasingly use it online and in public spaces without an ounce of hesitation.

How did this seemingly inexplicable shift happen?

The reasons are straightforward and have been right in front of us.

It is a massive reaction to the TMC government’s unchecked minority appeasement from infiltration, protection of radical madrasas, handling of communal incidents, to public statements. The West Bengal government has allocated Rs 5,713 crore for “Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education" in the 2026–27 state budget. This is more than roughly four times more than the allocation for industry and commerce (Rs 1,400 crore).

“Jai Shri Ram" as a symbolic pushback and assertion of Hindu identity also gained tremendous momentum during the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January 2024. An emotional storm blew across India, including Bengal. Many Bengalis who were previously indifferent or opposed to the movement gradually started accepting it as a civilisational milestone.

Demographic anxiety has been rising, especially in districts like Murshidabad, Malda, Dinajpur, Birbhum, and South 24 Parganas. Fluid borders have wreaked havoc and led to cultural takeover as well. In several places, Hindus have complained of being stopped from celebrating Durga Puja or Saraswati Puja.

Faced with such an existential crisis, Bengali Hindus started latching on to “Jai Shri Ram" when the Sangh Parivar started using it as a slogan while pushing muscular Hindutva. JSR meant a Hindu unity, which the Bengali was being pulled away from by “secular" politics.

Meanwhile, Left-“secular" politics itself has been reaching its use-by date. The long dominance of CPI(M) and then TMC’s brand of pseudo-secularism ignored Hindu concerns. This has pushed even moderate Bengalis towards cultural and religious assertion.

The new generation of urban and semi-urban Bengali Hindus is much less attached to the old Leftist-“secular" ideals. They are more comfortable with bold expressions of their Hindutva identity. To top it, BJP leaders like Yogi Adityanath and Amit Shah have successfully tied “Jai Shri Ram" to issues like infiltration, collapsing law and order, and syndicate raj.

“Jai Shri Ram" is no longer north Indian. It is not merely religious. It has become one with Bengal’s psyche itself: rebellious, subversive, and vocal against a looming existential threat.

© News18