Since coming to power, the Suvendu Adhikari-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal has relied on a predictable, albeit dangerous, playbook. The administration frequently reframes civilian protest as a security threat and dissent as radicalism, shifting scrutiny away from government incompetence to the religious identity of those agitating.Two major flashpoints in July 2026 exposed both the danger and the limits of this strategy. In each case, public anger arose from a concrete governance failure. In each, the government attempted to replace accountability with communal suspicion. In each, the narrative eventually unravelled.Kolkata protests against NEET paper leakThe most glaring example of this collapsing strategy occurred during the Kolkata protests over the national NEET-UG paper leaks. On July 24, the demonstration turned violent as protesters clashed with police, who responded with baton charges. Several journalists were reportedly assaulted and heckled. These were legitimate questions being asked by the students, directed at the Union government. Instead, chief minister Adhikari sought to transform an education-related protest into a communal confrontation.Also read: A New Culture and a New Elite: West Bengal is Lost and Confused by the Double Engine ProtocolHe described the agitators as foreign-funded “Islamic fundamentalists,” emphasised that the protest had taken place on a Friday coinciding with the Hindu festival of Ulto Rath and called the protesters “shukrobariya,” or “Friday-goers,” to associate them explicitly with Islam. He then warned that “three generations of them” would rot in prison. A national movement over an examination scandal was thus recast as a religious threat.That narrative did not survive for long. After the Narendra Modi government agreed to withdraw cases against NEET protesters across the country, all those arrested in Kolkata were granted bail within three days. The rapid retreat exposed the gulf between the chief minister’s inflammatory rhetoric and the eventual legal outcome. What had been presented as a dangerous extremist conspiracy ended with the accused walking out on bail almost immediately.The cost of communal profilingIt is a foundational expectation that any administration will severely punish those who hijack peaceful protests with violence. But doing so by overtly profiling a specific religious community is a dangerous dereliction of constitutional duty. Even if every person implicated in an incident belongs to the same faith, the state cannot attribute the crime to that religion. Criminal responsibility belongs to individuals, not communities.In a secular state, a perpetrator’s religious identity must remain completely irrelevant to the administration of justice. By weaponising demographic identity, Adhikari unjustly placed the burden of a violent minority onto an entire community, the vast majority of whom fiercely oppose such misconduct. The Baruipur caseThe same playbook appeared in Baruipur after the abduction, rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl came to light on July 5. Police allegedly failed to respond with the urgency the case required, an omission that may have cost the child her life. The killing triggered justified public outrage, which then descended into another horrific crime when a mob lynched Indrajit Mondal, a local resident whom the victim’s father had explicitly named as an accused in the initial first information report. Even though residents from both communities united in their outrage over the glaring police failure, Adhikari swiftly injected a manufactured communal narrative into the ensuing violence. Subverting institutional norms and bypassing standard investigative procedures entirely, he declared Mondal innocent without a police chargesheet and announced a Rs 25 lakh compensation package for his family.Also read: Good Egg, Bad Opposition: The Complex Rules of Bengal’s Dim-ocracyPolice arrested local Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Lahek Ali on charges of inciting the mob, ignoring video evidence that appeared to show him assisting police in calming the unrest. Pro-government television channels launched a shrill media trial attempting to associate Ali with militant organisations. Yet this orchestrated narrative faced pushback, as sceptical locals remained unconvinced. These July flashpoints, thus, have delivered a clear warning to the Adhikari-led establishment. While an older generation might be subdued by instilling fear, accusations of anti-national sentiment and communal division, the youth are increasingly unwilling to accept these as substitutes for answers. They are demanding a return to the fundamentals of governance.