BJP supporters vandalise West Bengal Congress headquarters in Kolkata

A group of supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (August 29, 2025) attacked Bidhan Bhawan, the headquarters of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee in Kolkata. The supporters, led by BJP leader Rakesh Singh, arrived at Bidhan Bhawan, defaced posters of Rahul Gandhi and burnt tyres outside the office to protest against remarks directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The vandalism was streamed live by the BJP leader, who was seen entering the premises of Bidhan Bhawan. At one point, the Congress workers were seen resisting the vandalism, but they were outnumbered. The BJP supporters were seen raising slogans “Narendra Modi Jindabaad (Long Live Narendra Modi)”.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Subhankar Sarkar demanded an explanation from his State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya for the “dastardly attack”. The WBPCC president wrote an open letter to his BJP counterpart seeking action against Rajesh Singh.

“We do not know how far the anger of Congress workers will go if action is not taken against Rakesh Singh by the BJP and the police,” Mr. Sarkar wrote in the letter. The State Congress leadership has launched a sustained protests over the attack and called for a mega procession on Saturday.

The West Bengal BJP leadership held a press conference and said that the act by party workers was an expression of their outrage over the derogatory remarks about the Prime Minister. The BJP leadership has been criticising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, after a purported video showed an unidentified person using a Hindi expletive against Mr. Modi from a dais raised during the yatra in Darbhanga town, from where Mr. Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had left for Muzaffarpur on motorcycles on Wednesday (August 27, 2025).

While there have been instances of protests by workers of a political party outside the party offices of rival political parties, the vandalism of a headquarters of a political party is a recent phenomenon in West Bengal politics.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary Md. Salim said that the attack on Bidhan Bhawan by goons of the BJP in presence of media persons was unimaginable in the politics of West Bengal. A section of Trinamool Congress leaders also called out the attack on State Congress headquarters.