On the eve of her dharna against what the Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleges are “arbitrary deletions” in the revised electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday launched an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over “high voter deletions” in Matua-dominated areas.
Taking to X on the death anniversary of Matua Mahasangha matriarch Binapani Devi, Banerjee wrote, “But regrettably, the machinations of the BJP government at the Centre have pushed the Matua brothers and sisters into a volatile and confusing situation today. Politics is being played in the name of giving citizenship. Their identity is being questioned. SIR is deliberately excluding them from the voter list. Those who are hereditary citizens of this country, by whose votes the government is elected, are today being put in the face of uncertainty in the name of giving them a new ‘citizenship’.”
Reiterating her party’s fight against what she called an ongoing attempt to snatch voter rights, Banerjee wrote, “We will not accept this injustice. Our struggle will continue against the ongoing attempt to take away the rights of the people of Bengal, including my Matua siblings… This is my pledge on this special day.”
Speaking about her “personal and spiritual relationship” with Binapani Devi, Banerjee said that she had received her “motherly affection”.
“On the death anniversary of Baroma Binapani Devi, I offer my humble tributes and pranam. Following the path shown by Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur, the Matua Mahasangha has been an inseparable part of Bengal’s social reform and renaissance…Baroma nurtured these ideals throughout her life. Under her leadership, the Matua Mahasangha was established as a pillar of social equality and fraternity,” she said.
According to ECI data accessed by The Indian Express, after the second phase of SIR, the highest number of voter deletions were seen in Dabgram-Phulbari Assembly constituency in Darjeeling district with 16,491 names struck off the rolls, followed by 15,303 in Bagdah seat in North 24 Parganas district, and 9,037 deletions in Kalyani Assembly seat in Nadia district. Matua voters form the majority in all three constituencies.
A senior ECI official had said, “In the second phase, in most cases of deletions, nobody appeared for the hearing. This trend suggests that the electors were not confident about their documents.”
Meanwhile, the TMC’s sit-in protest, scheduled at Kolkata’s Esplanade Metro Channel from 2 pm on Friday, was announced by party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday.
“She will announce our next line of action from the venue. We are against this SIR, in which legitimate voters have been deleted,” Abhishek had said.
For the TMC supremo, the decision to take the battle to the streets is also a return to a political style that shaped her rise.
Long before she became the chief minister in 2011, the pavements of Kolkata, particularly the Metro Channel, served as the stage where Banerjee built her image as a relentless street fighter challenging the then-dominant Left Front.
One of the most defining moments came on December 4, 2006, when she began an indefinite hunger strike at the same Metro Channel protesting the acquisition of agricultural land in Singur for the Tata Motors small car project.
The fast lasted 26 days and transformed the Singur agitation into a national political issue, galvanising farmers’ protests and denting the aura of invincibility surrounding the Left Front government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
The agitation later became one of the key political milestones that paved the way for the TMC to end 34-year Left rule in the 2011 Assembly elections.
Even after becoming chief minister, Banerjee has occasionally stepped out of the administrative role to reclaim the politics of agitation.
In February 2019, she staged a high-profile dharna in Kolkata, accusing the Centre of trying to undermine the federal structure after the CBI sought to question then Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with the Saradha chit fund probe.
Just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Banerjee held a three-day dharna at Red Road against the Centre’s decision to withhold funds meant for the state under various welfare schemes.
According to political observers, the latest dharna is an attempt by Banerjee to reframe the voter list controversy into a larger political narrative centred on democratic rights and electoral integrity, and will form the central poll plank for her party ahead of the Assembly elections.
(With PTI inputs)