Invoking towering Bengali figures such as Swami Vivekananda, Rishi Aurobindo, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the BJP supremo framed the coming election as more than a contest for power.
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It is, he writes, a moment to reclaim the spirit of “Sonar Bangla.”
Beginning with “Jai Ma Kali,” the PM Modi rang a deeply cultural chord, urging voters to reflect on the path the next generation will inherit.
He described a Bengal weighed down by neglect, violence and political appeasement, and contrasts it with the state’s historic role as a beacon of intellectual and industrial leadership.
“Seeing today’s sickly and dilapidated state of West Bengal breaks my heart. Due to the misrule and appeasement politics of the last six decades, the irreparable damage caused to West Bengal is beyond description,” the letter read.Welfare record as political message
A significant portion of the letter underscores the Centre’s welfare outreach in the state, despite what the national leader called persistent “non-cooperation” from the state government.
He cited the inclusion of five crore people under the Jan Dhan Yojana, construction of 86 lakh toilets through Swachh Bharat, and loans worth Rs 2.82 lakh crore to small entrepreneurs.
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He further noted the reach of Atal Pension Yojana to 76 lakh senior citizens, the Ujjwala scheme’s provision of clean cooking fuel to more than one crore households, and direct income support to 72 lakh farmers under PM-Kisan.
The message was clear: development, he suggested, had reached Bengal through central schemes even amid political friction.
“Bengal’s culture will regain its lost glory,” the letter further read.
A promise of change & a challenge
But the letter is not merely a recital of numbers.
PM Modi painted an evocative portrait of a state where youth migrate daily in search of work and women, he says, live with insecurity.
He warned of “illegal infiltration” and what he terms the corrosion of democratic processes through fake voters, while promising firm governance and social stability.
Quoting Tagore’s immortal vision of a land “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,” the prime minister casts the upcoming election as a turning point.
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“My humble appeal to the dear people of West Bengal: join this ‘Yajna’ of development. I am eagerly waiting for an opportunity to serve you. An opportunity where, in the words of Kabiguru, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,” there will be freedom from corruption and misrule,” he wrote.
He called upon voters to join what he describes as a “yajna” of development, pledging better health coverage through Ayushman Bharat, job opportunities for the young, and citizenship for persecuted refugees under the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Framing 2026 as a milestone year, the PM urged Bengalis to see the moment as a chance to revive the dream once imagined by Vivekananda and Netaji – and to build a “Viksit West Bengal” that honours its past while reshaping its future.
