Mamata never indulged in vote-bank politics: Abhishek
The Statesman | 30 October 2025Talking to newsmen at Trinamul Bhavan Mr Banerjee said the sole purpose of SIR is to cripple the administration and malign Bengal and Bengali-speaking people. “After failing to win power in the 2021 Assembly election and with reduced Lok Sabha seats in 2024 election the BJP has let loose the ECI to cripple Bengal by taking over the administration and then blame Mamata Banerjee for every single failure,” Mr Banerjee said.
He said it is most unfortunate that Pradip Kar, a resident of Mahajyoti Nagar in Panihati North 24-Parganas committed suicide due to anxiety because of implementation of NRC. He has mentioned this in his suicide note. Mr Banerjee demanded that an FIR should be filed against the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar holding them responsible for the incident.
Mr Banerjee said the SIR in Bengal has been implemented with a mala fide intention. “No SIR has been conducted in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura that hold borders with Bangladesh. The Centre could have implemented this in 2022, when there was no election. In 2022, the ECI took two years to conduct the SIR and now it will be done within a few months. How is it possible?” he asked.
Mr Banerjee reiterated: “SIR or not, Trinamul Congress will get one more seat in the 2026 Assembly election than 2021 Assembly polls. Demolishing the allegation by the BJP that Trinamul Congress is scared of the SIR, Mr Banerjee said: “Mamata Banerjee does not indulge in vote-bank politics. Kanyashree, Lakshmir Bhandar were not introduced keeping in mind the vote bank.”
Coming down heavily on the BJP MPs, Mr Banerjee said: “None of the MPs had ever written a letter to the Centre asking it to clear the dues of Bengal. They had won by the votes cast by the people of Bengal but had not said a word to clear the dues. It is because of this we call the BJP anti-Bengali and anti-Bengali. Those who had tried to malign Bengal have been rewarded,” He said.
Mr Banerjee said the Centre will not have to clear the dues worth over Rs 50,000 crore under MGNREGA. “When I decided to go to Delhi to press for our demands to clear the MGNREGA dues, many of my party leaders told me that it will be of much use. But still, I went to Delhi along with our leaders and some of the aggrieved workers. We were harassed and now the Supreme Court has instructed the Centre to clear the dues. The Bengal government has cleared the dues of the MGNREGA workers. It has also cleared the dues of the people to make rural houses. It has not cleared the dues under the Jal Jiban Mission and rural roads.
After failing to take over power through election, the BJP is trying to punish the people of Bengal. The people of Bengal are observing and they will take revenge in the ballot box in the 2026 Assembly election.”
