Didi: If Netaji were alive, even he would’ve been called for hearing
Times of India | 24 January 2026
Kolkata: "Today, if Subhas Chandra Bose were alive, even he would have been called for a (SIR) hearing, citing a logical discrepancy. He would be asked whether he is an Indian," CM Mamata Banerjee said on Friday during Netaji Jayanti celebrations on Red Road, with Chandra Bose, Netaji's grandnephew, on the dais.
Bose appeared for an SIR hearing, which the EC claimed was due to the "empty linkages" column in the enumeration form, which he strongly disputed as misleading. The CM said: "I heard that his descendant, Chandra Bose, was already summoned."
Launching an attack on the SIR process, Banerjee claimed that "sinister plans are always being hatched against Bengal" and asked if the Centre would also decide whom to love or whom to marry.
"Be it our cultural icons, our language, or our identity — everything is being belittled. Will Bengal accept this? Or will common people unite against this and fulfil Netaji's dream of ‘Delhi Chalo'? Delhi is a city of conspiracy. Sinister plans are always hatched there against Bengal," she said.
"Cultural icons and visionaries of this country are being disrespected — be it Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel, Raja Ram Mohan Roy or Matangini Hazra. We are witnessing hostility, disrespect and ingratitude," the CM said.
"Will they decide our marriages next? Will they decide who will love whom? At present, they are deciding who should eat what and who should wear what. Maybe in the future they will decide whether a child can be born or not. I am saying this because I am deeply hurt," she added.
Banerjee said the total number of names that have been deleted and called for SIR hearings was almost 2 crore. "If 2 crore names are deleted out of 7 crore people, imagine how many are losing their rights. More than 110 people have died. Every day, three to four people are taking their own lives out of fear. Why should a case not be filed against the ECI? The central govt, too, must take responsibility. After fighting for independence and the Renaissance, do we still need to prove whether we are voters of India?" she asked.
The CM said summoning people over their surnames showed a basic lack of understanding of the culture of Bengal. "I write Mamata Banerjee in English and, in Bengali, I write Mamata Bandyopadhyay. What is the problem with that?" she said.
Banerjee alleged that women voters were ending up with a higher number of deletions. "More than 1 crore 38 lakh people have been sent SIR notices. After marriage, a woman is free to keep both surnames or only her husband's surname. She moves to her husband's house, that is natural. Under the guise of mismatch, women's names are being deleted," she said.
The CM said people were being asked to submit their parents' birth certificates at a time they rarely existed. "A 90-year-old woman on oxygen support is being taken to a hearing centre in an ambulance. Names of tribal people are being deleted. A Tapashili woman who lives in my house told me that all her family members were summoned… Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was summoned due to the age difference of his parents," she said.