On Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, will lead a mega protest march from the Gandhi statue on Red Road to Jorasanko Thakurbari. The rally will begin around 1.30 p.m. and is expected to see participation from TMC MPs, ministers, councillors, and thousands of supporters.
Sources said the timing of the march—coinciding with the day BLOs (Booth Level Officers) begin door-to-door enumeration under the SIR process—was deliberate, aimed at sending a political message of resistance. Earlier in the day, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal held a virtual meeting with district magistrates to review the distribution of forms for the voter list revision.
However, the process has already triggered widespread panic after three individuals allegedly died in separate incidents across the state, reportedly fearing their names might be struck off the rolls. The chief minister, who has been targeting the BJP on social media for several days, is now set to take her protest to the streets. “The people of Bengal will not allow anyone to take away their right to vote,” she said in a recent post, vowing to lead the fight herself.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Banerjee escalated his attack on the BJP, linking the ongoing SIR controversy with the party’s recent CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) outreach camps. “I appeal to everyone not to fall into the trap of these so-called CAA camps. If you do, you will meet the same fate as the 12 lakh Bengali Hindus in Assam who were sent to detention camps. As long as Trinamul exists, no one in Bengal will be forced into a detention camp,” he declared. He claimed that six people have already died since the SIR process began, blaming the BJP’s “fear tactics” for pushing ordinary citizens to despair. “They are branding people born and brought up in Bengal as Bangladeshis. Is this the BJP’s love for Bengal?” Abhishek asked, urging people to unite beyond political lines.
Citing examples from Murarai in Birbhum, he said, “Sonali Khatun, who was declared a Bangladeshi, has her parents’ names listed in the 2002 voters’ roll. Yet she was deported. How can this happen if the system is not rigged?” He also took a swipe at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who recently said that “those not born in India have no right to vote.” Abhishek retorted, “If that logic is applied, then senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, born in Karachi, too, has no right to vote. What about Matua community leaders like Shantanu Thakur? Are they not Indian voters?”Trinamul leaders said the SIR issue has become the new political flashpoint that could define the run-up to the 2026 Assembly elections.
“The SIR is not just a bureaucratic process—it’s the BJP’s NRC in disguise,” a senior TMC functionary remarked. Abhishek Banerjee has instructed district leaders to set up local help desks in every block and ward to assist citizens in verifying their names on the voter list. MPs and MLAs have been tasked with supervising the process to prevent harassment or confusion during enumeration. “Bengal will fight back unitedly,” Abhishek said. “This is not Trinamul’s fight alone—it is the people’s fight for democracy.”