Malda, Dec 3 (PTI) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday tore into the BJP over the Election Commission’s rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls months before the Assembly polls, accusing Union Home Minister Amit Shah of “orchestrating” the exercise to unsettle voters and “capture West Bengal by trickery”.
Addressing a massive anti-SIR rally in Malda’s Gazole, Banerjee said the saffron camp had “miscalculated the pulse of Bengal” and ended up “digging its own grave” by pushing for a hurried revision process that triggered panic among citizens.
“Home Minister Amit Shah is behind this ploy of implementing SIR just before elections,” she alleged.
“Shah wants to capture Bengal at any cost. But remember, by doing SIR in Bengal, you have dug your own grave. Bengal and Bihar are not the same. You cannot win Bengal by cleverness and trickery,” she said.
She alleged that the EC’s November 4 rollout of SIR had unleashed “widespread fear”, with people believing their names would be arbitrarily dropped from the voters’ list.
“Till now, 39 ordinary citizens, including four BLOs, have died due to SIR panic, suicides included. We are helping their families. This trauma cannot continue,” she added.
Similar incidents, she claimed, had occurred in other states as well.
Banerjee clarified that the TMC was not opposing the revision itself but the “politically motivated haste”.
“We are not against SIR or census. But why the tearing hurry? A citizen again has to prove he is a citizen. Why?” she asked.
“This has been done to disrupt Bengal’s development work. They have blocked our dues, yet we are running schemes. Now they want to wreck everything in the name of SIR,” she said.
The chief minister announced that from December 12, the TMC will set up statewide “May I Help You” camps to assist citizens when SIR hearings begin later this month.
She appealed to migrant workers to ensure they fill up their forms, warning that “names may be struck off if forms are not submitted”.
Ratcheting up her attack on the BJP’s ideological thrust, Banerjee asserted, “We don’t need to learn Hindutva from the BJP. I do not practise communal politics; I practise secular politics. I respect every religion. I will not allow unrest in Bengal.” Without naming the BJP-led Union government, she fired a sharp warning, “You think you can do everything with brute force? You want to create an Emergency-like situation? Remember, people speak the last word. People will not forgive you.” “The BJP is like bed bugs; they bite till you remove them. They must be removed politically so Bengal is no longer harmed,” she thundered.
She also accused the Centre of withholding funds.
“We get only GST. All our tax money is taken away by the Centre. Bengal is supposed to get Rs 1.87 lakh-crore. Now we hear even cigarette taxes will be taken. You have grabbed everything across India. Does it not shame you? And then you want to grab Bengal forcefully?” she said.
Banerjee referred to the case of Sunali (Sonali) Khatun, the pregnant woman and her child pushed into Bangladesh earlier this year, whose return the Supreme Court allowed on humanitarian grounds on Wednesday.
“The court asked the Centre to bring back Sonali Khatun. We fought the case,” she said. “Sonali is an Indian. Then why did the BSF push a pregnant woman to Bangladesh? Was it because she is Bengali? Is that why she was branded Bangladeshi and thrown across the border?” The Supreme court on Wednesday allowed on “humanitarian grounds” the entry of a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old child into India, months after they were pushed into Bangladesh.
The top court was hearing a plea of the Centre challenging the September 26 order of the Calcutta High Court by which it had set aside the central government’s decision to deport Khatun and others to Bangladesh and termed it “illegal”.
Reiterating her position on citizenship and deportation issues, Banerjee said, “As long as I am here, no Bengali will be pushed back or sent to a detention camp.” The showdown over SIR comes as Bengal heads into its most polarised Assembly election in years, with the TMC framing the revision as a tool for intimidation and the BJP insisting it is a routine process.
For Banerjee, the issue feeds into a larger narrative that the BJP is using institutional levers to unsettle linguistic minorities, weaken welfare delivery, and stir anxieties around citizenship.
Banerjee, however, insisted she was in Malda not to seek votes but to “stand by anxious citizens”.
“I have not come to ask for votes,” she said. “I have come to stand by you. Do not be afraid. No one will go to a detention camp. Your names will not be dropped. Bengal will remain safe.” PTI PNT MNB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.