As West Bengal moves through the final phase of its high-stakes Assembly elections, political reactions have begun to intensify across the country. Amid this backdrop, Aaditya Thackeray took to X with a strongly worded post raising concerns over the conduct of the polls.
In a now-deleted post on X, Aaditya Thackeray urged readers to “take a moment to think neutrally, non politically and think whether what Bengal has faced, is right.” He said that “Bengal's pride is at odds with the might of the greed to win an election,” and alleged that citizens in the state have been “harassed” and “subject to disenfranchisement in millions.”
He further claimed that “the compromised Election Commission has tried to scare Bengalis, holding them at gunpoint, to make a Party win,” while also pointing to the movement of central forces into the state. According to the post, forces were brought in “in millions to try and scare Bengal,” and redeployed from other areas where they were stationed for maintaining peace.
Also Read | Explosives threat in Bengal polls? NIA teams fan out across voting districts
Questions on federal principles
The leader questioned the scale of deployment, asking, “Why is Bengal being treated like a state that has been invaded?” He stressed the importance of federal balance, stating, “Nothing must be more important in India than respecting cooperative federalism!”
Concerns over democratic institutions
Thackeray also wrote that such methods were not reflective of democratic practices. “This was never the tactic that won elections and this is not democracy,” he said, adding that the situation “pretty much proves that Indian democracy is virtually finished.”
He described the developments as “an institutional effort to capture a state through fear, hatred,” and accused authorities of “misusing institutions, central agencies, central forces to capture a state.”
Call to voters
Ending his post, Thackeray expressed hope that voters would respond decisively. “Hope Bengal gives a fitting answer to this greed and anti- India and anti- Bengal threat,” he wrote, adding that the issue goes beyond individuals. “This isn't about one lady who faces this, this is about Bengal, its pride and the ideals of India! This is about our country's credentials as a democracy in the world!”
