Bengal Elections: With His ‘Matri Shakti’ Initiative, PM Narendra Modi Takes on Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’
As the high-stake West Bengal Assembly election 2026 gets closer to its peak point, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has made women empowerment the core of BJP’s election campaign. In his addresses to huge masses in Bankura and Bishnupur, he has made women welfare a key plank of his “Modi’s Guarantee” and promised to bring about a complete change in the social security system for women if the saffron party comes to power. The promise was a deliberate attempt to counteract the popular state scheme called ‘Lakshmi Bhandar’.
The main thrust of the Prime Minister’s election campaign is a direct attack on the state’s cash transfer welfare schemes. PM Modi has promised that a double-engine government will give each woman an amount of ₹3,000 per month through “Matri Shakti Vandan Yojana,” which is twice the present cash benefits being provided by the government led by Mamta Banerjee. In addition, he has issued a “Sankalpa Patra (manifesto)” guaranteeing an amount of ₹50,000 to educate girl children and ₹21,000 in cash to expectant women.
Besides monetary support, the other aspect which the PM stressed was that of making sure that Ayushman Bharat Scheme comes into immediate effect so that people will get their medical care worth Rs. 5 lakh free of cost. It is something which, according to him, is not happening at the moment due to obstruction of the same on the part of the current TMC government. Apart from this, the PM pledged housing assistance worth ₹1.5 lakh per family under the PM Awas Yojana Scheme and aimed to make “zero electricity bills” a reality through solar energy schemes across the State.
A Battle for the ‘Honor of Daughters’ in Rural Bengal
Moving on to security and dignity of Bengalis, in a scathing political attack, the Prime Minister said that the ongoing election campaign is all about securing the “honor of our daughters”. Pointing out the incidents of violence against women in Sandeshkhali and RG Kar Medical College, the PM went on to say that both the Congress and the TMC governments have betrayed the womenfolk by stalling the 33 percent reservation bill for them.
The Trinamool Congress has not taken long to call the Prime Minister’s statements “election gimmicks” aimed at hoodwinking the electorate. The Chief Minister herself has responded at her rallies by saying that the BJP, if in power, will scrap such initiatives as Kanyashree and Lakshmir Bhandar. This is clearly turning out to be a battle of schemes, but the scheme that still captures the essence of the fight is “Nari Shakti,” since both the parties know that the women electors control the keys to power in the city.
