Eyes on TV, BJP netas call CM’s court battle a ‘performance’
Times of India | 5 February 2026
Kolkata: Clearly pushed to the backfoot by CM Mamata Banerjee's fight in Supreme Court, BJP seniors, who kept their eyes on television sets since Wednesday morning, called the appearance in the courtroom "a performance".
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, junior Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said that Banerjee had come to Delhi with family members of BLOs. "The entire administration is under Trinamool's control and yet, surprisingly, not even one official in the administration lodged a complaint with EC about BLOs being victims of the SIR process," he claimed.
"Banerjee raised the issue of micro-observers, but it is the state govt which could not provide the EC with enough officials. Instead, they sent anganwadi workers. The CM coming here is nothing but a performance to hog the limelight. People in New Delhi got a chance to see her performance," Majumdar said.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that, being the head of the administration, the CM had "misled" people about SIR. "Trinamool used filthy words about the EC. They did not come to the Supreme Court to seek justice. It is a ploy to divert attention from issues like the Anandapur fire, where people got burnt alive. She did not visit the spot, but she had the time to intervene when ED searched a place. Now she came to New Delhi to put up a show," Bhattacharya said.
Union minister Giriraj Singh alleged "theatrics at play". "TMC is a master of theatrics. We saw a similar performance in the last election when Banerjee broke her leg. Her leg healed after the results," he said. He added: "TMC workers influenced EC officials, and a section of them became partisan. They wanted to harm the SIR process."
On Tuesday night, BJP MPs met party's national president Nitin Nabin, briefing him on the SIR process in the state. State netas told Nabin that BLOs were being threatened by Trinamool workers and that their BLAs were not being allowed to submit Form 7s.