"Why Bengal being treated like state that has been invaded?" Aaditya Thackeray questions deployment of security forces

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 29 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday questioned the deployment of security forces in West Bengal amid the election season. He alleged that the central forces in millions were being moved in Bengal to "scare".
"Moving central forces into Bengal, in millions to try and scare Bengal, redeploying them from where they were posted to protect our country and ensuring peace in troubled areas. Why is Bengal being treated like a state that has been invaded?" Thackeray posted on X.
He said that Bengal's citizens and pride are at odds with the "might of the greed to win an election" and "compromised Election Commission".
"Take a moment to think neutrally, non politically and think whether what Bengal has faced, is right. Bengal's pride is at odds with the might of the greed to win an election. Bengal's citizens have been harassed, subject to disenfranchisement in millions, in a country that was once proudly a democracy. The compromised Election Commission has tried to scare Bengalis, holding them at gun point, to make a Party win," he said in the post.
Emphasising that respecting cooperative federalism holds the highest significance in India, he said, "This was never the tactic that won elections and this is not democracy."
"The conduct of this election pretty much proves that Indian democracy is virtually finished; it is an institutional effort to capture a state through fear, hatred," he said.

Take a moment to think neutrally, non politically and think whether what Bengal has faced, is right.

Bengal's pride is at odds with the might of the greed to win an election.

Bengal's citizens have been harassed, subject to disenfranchisement in millions, in a country that was…

— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) April 29, 2026

He accused the Centre of trying to misuse "institutions, central agencies, central forces to capture a state", further expressing hope that West Bengal gives a "fitting answer" to what he called an "anti- India and anti- Bengal threat."
"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!," he concluded his post.
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal has assured citizens of a secure voting environment, stating that both state police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed across the state to maintain law and order.
The deployment of centre forces has turned into a major point of tension in the state as CM Mamata Banerjee has alleged that "observers from outside" and police officers unfamiliar with Bengal were being deployed in a manner that was targeting Trinamool Congress workers.
Another incident which triggered a row was when the CRPF conducted a search operation in the Falta Assembly constituency under the leadership of Ajay Pal Sharma, the election observer for the West Bengal polls and in turn, sparked a protest as TMC supporters gathered outside the office of party candidate Jahangir Khan, raising slogans against the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) while the search was underway.
TMC supporters staged protests, accusing the Election Commission-appointed police observer of "intimidating" party workers ahead of the second phase of polling. Senior party leaders and state ministers further alleged that the Uttar Pradesh-cadre IPS officer was overstepping his role. (ANI)