Bengal girl killed in Kaliganj bomb blast on bypoll result day; Amit Malviya slams Mamata: ‘Is this price of victory?’

Kaliganj Bomb Blast: BJP leader Amit Malviya on Monday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by calling her politics “violent and vote-bank-driven”. He also slammed Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) by calling it a “gang of vultures”.

Malviya was referring to the death of a nine-year-old girl's death in a bomb explosion n Kaliganj in West Bengal's Nadia district on Monday. According to a police officer, the girl was wounded after being allegedly hit by a bomb that exploded on Monday afternoon at Barochandgar under Kaliganj police station limits, news agency PTI reported.

“TMC’s celebration ends with blood on its hands. Again. From TMC’s victory rally in Muslim-majority Kaliganj bypoll, bombs were hurled, and in the chaos, a little girl—Tamanna Khatun, a Class 4 student—was killed. Let that sink in,” Malviya, who is in charge of the BJP's National Information & Technology Department, wrote in a message on X. 

“A child. Murdered. While TMC danced to the tune of their “victory.” TMC is not a political party. It is a gang of vultures. They cannot win—even a bypoll—without shedding blood,” he added in his post. 

“Is this what West Bengal has been reduced to? Is this the price of victory under Mamata Banerjee’s rule?” Malviya went on to question the Banerjee-led government in West Bengal. 

Meanwhile, Banerjee expressed shock at the news and said the police would take “strong and decisive legal action against the culprits as soon as possible.”

'Banerjee’s violent politics' - In Malviya's words

In a barrage of posts on X, Malviya continued to hit out against CM Banerjee and her “violent, vote-bank-driven politics”.

“13-year-old Tamanna Khatun—a Class 4 student—was blown to pieces in Kaliganj, where bombs were hurled during a TMC victory rally. This is the blood price of Mamata Banerjee’s violent, vote-bank-driven politics,” he wrote in his message. 

"West Bengal has no law and order left. Mamata Banerjee, ironically, the state’s Home Minister, has failed spectacularly as an administrator. Worse, she fuels radicalised politics to polarise and retain her Muslim vote bank, only for innocent children like Tamanna to pay with their lives.

This is not governance. This is criminal neglect," Malviya added. 

Malviya lays out “facts” about Kaliganj bypoll

Accusing CM Banerjee of “peddling another lie”, Malviya presented some demographical, voter turnout, and voting trends “facts” in another post on X.

"Mamata Banerjee is peddling another lie. She claims TMC’s win in Kaliganj Assembly bypoll is due to “support from all religions, castes, races and walks of life”, he wrote in his post.

The BJP leader claimed that the surge in the voting trend was a direct result of rising Hindutva consciousness and the backlash against recent Murshidabad riots. 

“The truth: Mamata Banerjee’s TMC is surviving on a captive vote bank of Muslims, illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators and radical elements. Just like they dumped the Left, Hindus of Bengal have dumped Mamata. 2026 won’t be a by-election. It’ll be a full-blown revolution,” he added.

TMC candidate Alifa Ahmed won the bypolls to the Kaliganj Assembly seat by a landslide margin of 50,049 votes over her nearest BJP rival Ashish Ghosh, bettering the 2021 winning margin of her father Nasiruddin Ahmed, whose demise in February this year necessitated the elections to the seat in West Bengal's Nadia district, the ECI website said on Monday.

According to figures posted by the Commission on its website, after the final 23rd round of counting, Alifa bagged 1,02,759 votes, compared to Ghosh, who finished the race with 52,710 votes.

The Left-supported Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh came in third with 28,348 votes.