Which direction is India moving? After Amartya Sen, Netaji Kin Chandra Bose protests SIR hearing call
Times of India | 19 January 2026
KOLKATA: Chandra Bose, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew and a former BJP neta, said he, his wife and their three children were called for an SIR hearing but the notices sent to them did not cite any reason.
Bose and his family members attended the hearing in Kolkata on Jan 16, the same day Nobel laureate Amartya Sen appeared for an SIR hearing through a representative in Santiniketan.
Bose said no discrepancy was mentioned to him when he appeared before Election Commission officials. “Netaji’s grandnephew, too, needs to prove his Indian citizenship. Which direction is India moving?” Bose asked, adding he had no issue with attending the hearing but expected a reason to be cited.
The Bengal CEO said in a statement on X that Bose was called for the hearing because “the enumeration form shows that the linkage columns have been left blank by the elector. He has therefore been called for hearing along with all the other similarly placed electors as per notification of ECI.” The statement said the claim that Bose was asked to prove his nationality is “misleading”.
Bose said the SIR, though needed, could have been done after the assembly polls. It is being handled in a “hasty and unplanned” manner, resulting in harassment of voters, he said. “It seems BJP wanted to get it done before the assembly elections. But what have the polls got to do with it? Unless BJP wants some names struck off (the voters’ list), which would help them win the polls. But it seems BJP itself is in a spot because a large number of their voters, including Matuas, are finding it difficult to provide SIR documents,” said Bose, convenor of The Open Platform for Netaji and a former vice-president of Bengal BJP.
He pointed out that his name was on the 2002 voters’ list, which makes him a “mapped voter” and should have been enough to prevent a hearing. “Despite that, I was called, along with my wife, daughter and two sons. My sons are abroad, so I appeared for them. We provided our passports... But we were not told whether that was enough,” said Bose, who contested the 2016 assembly polls from Bhowanipore and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Kolkata South as a BJP candidate. He lost both and later quit the party.
“We stood in a queue for more than an hour. It is fine... but there should have been a valid reason for calling us... It is alarming that elderly people are being forced to travel 40-50km to attend a hearing. People are dying on the way... The whole process is botched up,” said Bose.
A hearing notice was issued to Mathurapur’s TMC MP Bapi Haldar on Saturday. He has been asked to appear before EC officials between noon and 2.30 pm on Jan 28. Which means he will miss the first day of the budget session in Parliament. Also on Saturday, an SIR notice was served on Sagardighi’s TMC MLA Bayron Biswas and his two brothers.
(With inputs from Monotosh Chakraborty & Sukumar Mahato)