Kolkata, April 6 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched an all-out attack on the West Bengal government over the law and order situation in the state, referring to the mob siege of judicial officers in Malda to accuse the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of failing to uphold constitutional governance. Addressing a rally in Cooch Behar, his first in the state since the announcement of the elections, Modi hit out at the Mamata Banerjee-led government for using the term "ishtehar" for its manifesto, accused it of sheltering infiltrators, and criticised what he described as its "appeasement politics", which he said was threatening the state's identity. "The merciless TMC government is strangling the Constitution and destroying law and order. The nation was shocked to see judicial officers held hostage in Malda. Not only TMC's local leaders but also the government was involved in it," Modi said. Seven court-appointed judicial officers - two of whom were women-were trapped inside the BDO's office for more than eight hours on Wednesday night until the police escorted them out around 10pm. An eighth officer - a woman - was stranded in her car on the road to the BDO's office during the agitation in which locals blocked roads, including NH-12. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the incident. West Bengal Police has arrested Mofakkerul Islam, who had contested the 2021 assembly polls from Itahar on an All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) ticket, and named him as a key conspirator. The TMC alleged that AIMIM was acting in coordination with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi also drew on a historical episode to target the TMC, criticising its use of the word "ishtehar" (Urdu for advertisement) for its poll manifesto. He linked it to the "Lal Ishtehar" circulated after Bengal's partition in 1905, which he said was followed by attacks on Hindus. In 1905, Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, partitioned Bengal into Hindu-majority West Bengal and Muslim-majority East Bengal, a move later reversed in 1911 after the Swadeshi movement. "TMC is bringing back that episode in history. A specific religious group will make it impossible for you to survive. There is a conspiracy to wipe out Bengal's culture and honour. Enough is enough. Those who are trying to change the identity of Bengal have to leave for good," Modi said. To be sure, the English version of TMC's document is called "Manifesto 2026" and in Hindi it is titled "Ghoshana Patra, 2026" (announcement document). The Bengali version, of which HT has a copy, is titled "Ishtehar 2026."...