On a day the Election Commission extended the deadline for the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in five states and one UT, excluding West Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday escalated her confrontation with the poll panel and BJP, urging women to “come out with kitchen tools” if their names are deleted from the revised voters’ list.
At a rally in Krishnanagar in Nadia district, the CM framed the SIR as a targeted political exercise, alleging that the review was being conducted selectively in Opposition-held areas.
“SIR-er naam kore maa bone-der odhikar korbe.. Delhi police niye eshe maa bone-der bhoy dekhabe? Ki maa bone ra naam katle bari te shob jinis potro ache to? Je gulo diye ranna koren. Moner shokti aache to… mey ra samne lodai korbe aar chele ra pechone thakbe… Aami dekhte chai, maa boner der shokti boro na BJP-er shokti boro. Amra dekhte chai Bangla dekhte chai (You will snatch the rights of mothers and sisters in the name of SIR? Will they bring police from Delhi during the election and intimidate mothers and sisters? Mothers and sisters, if your names are struck off, you have the tools, right? The tools you use for cooking. You have strength, right? You won’t let it pass if your names are cut, right? The women will fight in the front, and the men will be behind them. I want to see your strength. Bengal wants to see your strength,” she said.
In a scathing attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, she said: “There is a Home Minister here… both his eyes are terrifying. Seeing him gives a feeling of impending disaster. There is no task he cannot do. He has Duryodhana in one eye, and Dushasana in the other.”
Responding to Shah’s statement in Parliament on Wednesday—“If you stand by infiltrators, you will be wiped out from Bengal”—Banerjee countered: “There will be no NRC in West Bengal, nor will there be detention camps. Rest assured. I will not let anyone be driven out of Bengal. And if they are driven out, we know how to bring them back.”
She also alleged that District Magistrates were being pressured to remove “one and a half crore names” from the rolls. “You succeeded in Bihar. I will not let you do it in Bengal.”
Attacking the Election Commission, Banerjee alleged that officers aligned with the BJP were being sent from Delhi to supervise SIR hearings and influence district administrations. “Some BJP-backed people are overseeing the work of DMs. Why should only the BJP’s complaints be acted upon? Does the Commission work only on its letters?” she asked.
“Are you planning to conduct the election with a voter list prepared by the BJP’s IT cell? Do whatever you want. You won’t be able to do anything,” she added.
The TMC chief again warned against “vote-splitting conspiracies”. “Whenever elections come, the BJP comes with money to split votes. None of you should allow that,” she said.
Thursday marked the end of the first phase of SIR.