Overview

• Abdur Rahim Bakshi, TMC MLA and Malda district president, was recorded at a Saturday rally threatening to pour acid into a BJP legislator’s mouth if migrant workers from Bengal are called “Rohingyas” or “Bangladeshis.”
• The threat, widely shared in viral clips, was a veiled reference to BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh, whom Bakshi did not name while urging supporters to socially boycott the BJP and tear down party flags.
• BJP leaders condemned the remarks and mounted protests in Malda, with MP Khagen Murmu leading a sit-in and party figures alleging the TMC is normalising intimidation ahead of the 2026 state election.
• Bakshi later defended his comments as not undemocratic, while reports noted no uniform public retraction from TMC leadership and recalled Mamata Banerjee’s prior warnings to party workers against provocative rhetoric.
• Separately, the BJP posted an unverified video accusing a TMCP student leader in Malda’s Chanchol College of trying to burn photos of Tagore, Modi and Shah; TMCP issued a show-cause and a local TMC MLA dismissed the charge as diversion, as tensions followed a raucous Assembly session where Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of ‘waging linguistic terror.’