Kolkata/Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will criss-cross poll-bound West Bengal and Assam this weekend, a visit expected to have a blend of high-voltage political messaging with a series of infrastructure launches as the countdown to the 2026 assembly elections gains momentum.
In West Bengal, where the BJP is the principal challenger to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, Modi’s January 17–18 tour comes amid twin political flashpoints-the bitter row over the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls and the storm triggered by the Enforcement Directorate’s searches at the TMC’s political consultancy firm, I-PAC.
The Prime Minister will address rallies in minority-dominated Malda on Saturday and at Singur in Hooghly district on Sunday, two locations rich in electoral symbolism and political memory.
The elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are due in the next three months this year.
While Malda represents a key battleground in north Bengal, Singur remains etched in Bengal’s political consciousness as the epicentre of the anti-land acquisition movement that propelled Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011 and reshaped the state’s political landscape.
This will be Modi’s second visit to Bengal in less than a month and his first since Banerjee dramatically confronted ED officials during the January 8 searches at I-PAC, accusing the central agency of attempting to “steal” the TMC’s election strategy at the BJP’s behest.
“The PM will arrive in Malda on Saturday afternoon. He will first attend a government programme and then address a public rally at a nearby ground. He will then be going to Assam. On Sunday, he will again come to Bengal, this time to Singur in Hooghly, where he will attend a government programme followed by a public rally,” a senior state BJP leader said. The PM visited Bengal last month on December 20.
According to a PIB release, Modi will reach Malda in the afternoon on January 17, from where he will flag off India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper Train between Howrah and Guwahati (Kamakhya), besides virtually flagging off the return service.
The fully air-conditioned sleeper train is expected to cut travel time on the Howrah-Guwahati route by around 2.5 hours. Currently, it takes nearly 18 hours from Howrah to Guwahati by train.
Later in the day, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of multiple rail and road projects worth over Rs 3,250 crore, including new railway lines, electrification of key sections in north Bengal, freight and Vande Bharat maintenance facilities, four new Amrit Bharat Express trains, and the four-laning of the Dhupguri-Falakata stretch of NH-31D.
Politically, the Bengal leg of the visit comes against a backdrop of acrimony over the SIR process, with the ruling TMC accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of harassing voters through the revision exercise.
The BJP, in turn, has defended the exercise as necessary to weed out illegal immigrants from electoral rolls, alleging that the TMC’s resistance stems from fears of losing a sizeable “infiltrator” vote bank.
On Saturday, from Malda, the PM will travel to Guwahati in Assam, a BJP bastion since 2016. Assembly elections in the state are also due in the next three months.
In Guwahati, Modi is scheduled to witness a performance of the Bodo folk dance ‘Bagurumba’ by 10,000 artistes at the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Stadium.
The Prime Minister is expected to stay for a night in Assam.
On January 18, he will proceed to Kaliabor to lay the foundation stone for the Rs 6,957-crore Kaziranga elevated corridor, a marquee infrastructure project aimed at easing traffic congestion and protecting wildlife around the UNESCO World Heritage site.
He is also scheduled to virtually flag off two Amrit Bharat Express trains- Dibrugarh–Gomti Nagar(Lucknow) and Kamakhya–Rohtak and address a public meeting.
The Assam visit follows Modi’s December tour, during which he inaugurated the new terminal of the Guwahati international airport, and laid the foundation stone for an Rs 10,601-crore brownfield ammonia-urea plant in Dibrugarh.
On Sunday, Modi will return to West Bengal and visit Singur, where he will inaugurate, lay foundation stones, and flag off development projects worth around Rs 830 crore, including the Extended Port Gate System at Balagarh and new railway connectivity for Bankura district. Three Amrit Bharat Express trains from Howrah, Sealdah, and Santragachi will also be flagged off.
Nearly two decades after Tata Motors pulled out its Nano car project from Singur following sustained protests, the BJP has promised to “bring Tata back” if voted to power, projecting the episode as a symbol of industrial stagnation under the TMC.
Singur occupies a singular place in Bengal’s contemporary political history. It was here that Tata Motors’ small car Nano plant was proposed, but the company pulled out in 2008 following sustained protests led by the TMC against forcible land acquisition by the then Left Front government, a movement that altered the state’s political trajectory and helped propel Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011.
BJP leaders hope Modi’s Singur address will revive the industry-versus-politics debate and underline a broader investment narrative in a state the party argues has remained industry-starved since the Tata exit.
The TMC, which rode the Singur and Nandigram agitations to end 34 years of Left rule, has dismissed the pitch as a political gimmick, citing court verdicts ordering the return of land to unwilling farmers.
According to poll observers, in the charged political atmosphere of eastern India, the Prime Minister’s weekend tour is expected to sharpen battle lines and set the tone for the high-stakes 2026 electoral showdown in the two states.
They say the twin visits to Bengal and Assam reflect a familiar BJP playbook–combining infrastructure announcements, cultural symbolism, and pointed political messaging– as the BJP seeks to consolidate power in a state it already rules and prise open space in one where it remains the principal opposition since 2021.
