‘Rahul Gandhi Must Decide If He Is With BJP or Against It’: Kejriwal Backs Mamata in Bengal, Attacks EC Over Voter Deletions

With West Bengal witnessing one of its most polarised electoral battles in recent memory, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday launched a sharp attack on both the BJP and the Congress, while campaigning in support of Mamata Banerjee. Standing firmly beside the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata, Kejriwal questioned Rahul Gandhi’s political priorities, accusing the Congress of helping the BJP indirectly by targeting regional opposition parties instead of joining hands against the saffron camp.

“Rahul Gandhi must decide whether he is with the BJP or against it,” Kejriwal said while speaking to News The Truth. “The BJP is using his videos. He should not have campaigned against Mamata Banerjee in Bengal. That only weakens the opposition”, he said while responding to Rahul Gandhi’s anti TMC campaign in Bengal ahead of polls. His remarks come at a crucial moment in Bengal’s election cycle, where the contest has largely shaped up as a fierce two-cornered battle between the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with Congress and the Left trying to regain lost ground in select pockets.

Kejriwal’s comments came just days after Rahul Gandhi’s own campaign speech in Kolkata, where the Congress leader directly targeted Mamata Banerjee and the TMC government. Addressing a rally, Rahul alleged that Bengal was witnessing a “reign of terror” instead of democracy and accused both the BJP and TMC of protecting each other politically. He also questioned why central agencies pursued opposition leaders elsewhere while major scams alleged in Bengal did not lead to similar accountability. In another sharp line, Rahul said Bengal’s youth had been denied jobs and opportunities under the present regime. Those remarks triggered a political backlash from TMC leaders, and Kejriwal’s intervention now adds another layer to the opposition-versus-opposition contest inside Bengal.

Kejriwal’s intervention reflects a wider debate within opposition politics - whether anti-BJP forces should fight each other in states where regional parties are stronger, or unite strategically against the BJP. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly projected herself as one of the strongest national challengers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, often accusing the Congress of lacking clarity and consistency in confronting the BJP. Kejriwal echoed that line in Kolkata, suggesting that opposition fragmentation only benefits the BJP. His endorsement of Mamata also signals continued cooperation between AAP and TMC despite shifting equations in national politics.

The AAP convenor also raised serious concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that voter deletions were being used as a political tool. “The way people have been deleted in this election is serious,” Kejriwal said. “The Election Commission is not ensuring a fair election. Instead, it is using its powers to help the BJP by deleting voters.” Drawing a parallel with Delhi, he claimed similar practices had taken place during previous polls there.
“The same happened in the Delhi election. In my own constituency, nearly one lakh voters were deleted,” he said. The allegations are likely to add fuel to an already heated Bengal campaign, where opposition parties have repeatedly accused the Election Commission of bias, while the BJP has denied such charges and maintained that electoral processes are being conducted fairly.

West Bengal remains one of the BJP’s most important expansion targets nationally, while for Mamata Banerjee, holding the state decisively is central to her national relevance. Every outside endorsement, therefore, carries symbolic weight. Kejriwal’s appearance in Kolkata underlines how Bengal has once again become a larger ideological battleground not just between TMC and BJP, but over the future direction of opposition politics in India.