Kolkata, Aug 5 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was the brainchild of the BJP-led central government with the connivance of the Election Commission.
Banerjee, who was on a visit to flood-affected Ghatal in Paschim Medinipur district, also asserted that Bengali-speaking Indian citizens were being branded as Bangladeshis and sent to the neighbouring country.
“This (SIR) has been planned by the central government, keeping the Election Commission with it. We do not agree with it,” she said, contending that it is not possible for everyone to preserve parents’ birth certificates for the exercise.
The chief minister said she will not accept any attempt to introduce the SIR in West Bengal, where assembly polls are due in 2026.
“People practicing all religions will suffer if the special intensive revision is introduced in the state,” Banerjee claimed.
Opposition parties have been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging the EC’s exercise was aimed at “disenfranchising voters” in Bihar ahead of the assembly elections in that state.
Banerjee reiterated that migrant workers from West Bengal were facing harassment in some states, “owing to their mother tongue”.
The CM also claimed that since she protested such acts, there has been a demand in some quarters that she be arrested under the National Security Act (NSA).
She also alleged that attempts were underway to implement the NRC in the name of SIR. PTI AMR RBT
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