The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal is implementing the promise of ‘Sonar Bangla’ (golden Bengal) on the ground, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday (July 19, 2026).
The Minister was virtually laying the foundation stone of a ₹700-crore Amul dairy project at Sankrail in Howrah.
“I have come to tell the people of West Bengal that whatever we had promised during the elections, the government is implementing the promise of ‘Sonar Bangla’ on the ground,” the Minister said.
During the campaign for the 2026 Assembly election, the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr.
Shah, had spoken about returning West Bengal to its golden age.
Tracing the political history of West Bengal, Mr.
Shah said that that the idea of ‘Sonar Bangla’ envisioned by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had been destroyed by the previous Communist and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) regimes.
The change that the people of West Bengal had brought about was unlike any political change witnessed in any State of the country since Independence, the Home Minister said.
Take east: On the BJP government in West Bengal Mr.
Shah, who was on a three-day visit to the State, said the Central and the State government had held detailed discussions on governance and security.
“We have discussed and taken several steps to stop infiltration, strengthen law and order, and improve women’s safety,” he said.
Amul had laid the foundation stone of the country’s largest yogurt production project, and yogurt will be produced by processing 10 lakh litres of milk, Mr.
Shah said.
“Small dairy farmers will benefit.
I told the Chief Minister (Suvendu Adhikari) to give two 15-acre plots [to Amul].
Then the entire east India milk production system will be from here,” he said.
Mr.
Adhikari took a swipe at former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has said she would not let West Bengal turn into Gujarat.
BJP rule in Bengal will be no different from rest of country: Venugopal “Those who used to say that they will not let Bengal become Gujarat, they are watching on TV from home today.
Amul is investing ₹700 crore today for the development of West Bengal,” Mr.
Adhikari said.
The Chief Minister urged the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited to set up two ice-cream plants, one in south Bengal and another in north Bengal, and said that his government would provide 15 acres of land for setting up the plants.
State Industries Minister Tapas Roy, Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta, Cooperative Minister Ashok Kirtania, Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee, and BJP State president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya were present on the occasion of virtually laying the foundation stone of the Amul project.
This is the third major investment announced after the BJP government came to power in West Bengal.
Lux Cozi recently laid the foundation stone for a mega manufacturing hub in Dankuni, with a planned investment of ₹600 crore.
The Shyam Steel Group has also announced a project at its Mejia plant in Bankura district, with a total investment of ₹15,000 crore.
