Kolkata, Aug 28 (PTI) TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the BJP, accusing it of using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a “tool to select voters” instead of letting people elect governments.
He warned that any attempt to delete legitimate voters will be met with protests in New Delhi.
Banerjee alleged that the saffron party was trying to “snatch voting rights, which is a fundamental right of citizens” ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, but asserted that the state’s people would give a “befitting reply to those who have insulted 10 crore Bengalis by undermining the language they speak”.
Addressing a rally to mark the foundation day of Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, the party’s students’ wing, in central Kolkata, Banerjee said, “Earlier, voters used to elect governments, but now the BJP is handpicking voters through the undemocratic SIR process. Our fight against this will continue. If the BJP dares to delete a single legitimate voter, we will reach Delhi with 10 lakh Bengalis, gherao Rajpath and prove their might.” The perceived ‘Number 2’ of the state’s ruling dispensation, after its supremo Mamata Banerjee, claimed that the TMC will return to power with a bigger mandate in 2026 than it did five years ago.
“Our seats in the state assembly have gone up election by election since 2011. The more the opposition tried to slander us, the higher our seat strength became. We will better our 2021’s 215-seat performance in 2026. I challenge the BJP to cross the 50-seat mark in the upcoming state polls,” Banerjee declared.
“Our war cry against the saffron brigade starts today,” he said, adding, “We will stand at this very same platform a year from now and hail the fourth Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal”.
Banerjee launched a fresh attack against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his attempt to amend the Constitution and remove ministers from positions in the eventuality of a jail term of 30 days or more.
“The BJP considers this country to be its ancestral property. Shah tried to amend the Constitution by bringing an amendment Bill at the dead of the night. Twenty-eight of our MPs protested against it by getting down to the well of the Lok Sabha. It is because of that resistance that Shah wasn’t able to table the Bill from the first row of the House and had to retreat to the fourth. They will not be able to pass the Bill because of the opposition’s numbers in Parliament,” Banerjee said.
The leader credited the people of Bengal for this “success”, vowing that the party will resist the Bill’s passage at all costs.
“This is what we could do with 29 seats. And if the people had given us 40 seats, Shah would have had to cower in the last row and hide his face,” he declared.
Referring to the recent delay in publication of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Exam results, Banerjee shifted the onus to a section of the state’s high judiciary.
“It is unfortunate that a section of Calcutta High Court judges, in their bid to wage a war against the state government and teach the TMC a lesson, attempted to plunge the future of thousands of students in darkness and uncertainty,” he alleged, stating that the state approached the Supreme Court to get a stay order on the high court direction and publish the results within an hour.
The TMC MP said Bengal will reply appropriately to those “who discriminate, ostracise, and insult the state at every turn and said there is no such language as Bengali.” “Will we answer them or not? Those who insulted 10 crore Bengalis, those who stopped the money of Bengal’s farmers, those who stopped the money for drinking water under the Jal Jeevan Mission, those who stalled housing funds for 50 lakh Bengalis under PMAY, those who have stopped more than Rs 10,000 crore under PMGSY; will you not answer them?” the leader thundered.
Banerjee also slammed the Centre for not clearing the TMC’s proposed Aparajita Bill for women’s safety and alleged that the intention of those who had objected to it was not just to save the accused from getting punished, but also to destroy the state’s health infrastructure.
“We had brought the Aparajita Bill to ensure women’s security. Should that Bill not be passed? Why aren’t the CPI(M), Congress, and BJP raising their voices today? Why are they not marching and insisting on the passing of this Bill?” he questioned.
Turning his focus on central agencies, the leader claimed that despite multiple attempts to break the resolve of the TMC by using intimidation tactics of the ED and CBI, the BJP has failed.
“Today, the BJP is trying to threaten, silence, and stifle all opposition political parties. Have they been able to do so in Bengal? No! As many times as they have sent ED and CBI, our leaders’ resolve to fight has only grown. We are steel. The more you burn us, the stronger we will become,” Banerjee said. PTI PNT SMY MNB
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