The CPM on Thursday sharpened its attack against the “misuse of constitutional apparatus” like the Election Commission to “loot votes in the name of special intensive revision of electoral rolls” with state party secretary Md Salim announcing a “Bangla Bachao Yatra (Save Bengal Rally)” to protect the rights of voters, particularly the disadvantaged sections of society.
Speaking to reporters in Calcutta, Salim said: “Right-wing ruling parties have always tried to curtail the rights of the people. Therefore, whatever rights we have got — constitutional, democratic and humanitarian — along with rights of equality are being attempted to be snatched away by the rightwing rulers in the country and in our state.”
Lashing out at the governments at the Centre and the state for “misusing bodies like the Election Commission” to “threaten and curtail” the rights of the people, Salim said it was being done through an “organised nation-wide loot of votes that happens through the manipulation of the voters’ list”.
He said to facilitate the loot and subvert people’s rights, different narratives were being built by Right-wing forces by labelling bonafide citizens as “jihadis, Rohingyas, Bangladeshis or Matuas and creating an atmosphere of fear among the people. This is a global tactic of Right-wingers to deny people of their rights”.
The CPM at its last state committee meeting had decided to take affirmative programmes to protect the rights of voters as well as “save Bengal”.
“To that effect, we will start our Bangla Bnachao Yatra from Tufanganj in north Bengal on November 29. The march will travel through the districts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, Malda, Nadia, East Burdwan, Hooghly, Howrah, and conclude with a massive rally at Kamarhati in North 24-Parganas on December 17. In the course of its journey, mass gatherings will be held at several places,” Salim said.
He accused the chief electoral officer of allowing Trinamool to manipulate the voters’ list with the help of the BLOs. Hitting out at the Trinamool and the BJP for creating panic over SIR with the “avowed aim to manipulate the electoral roll in the manner they seek to,” Salim claimed that BLOs were serving enumeration forms in the name of dead voters “under pressure from the Trinamool”.
The CPM leader also accused Trinamool “goons and councillors” of snatching enumeration forms from BLOs to prevent the removal of dead and bogus voters and the addition of new voters.
The rally will also seek protection of the hills, riverbanks, and the Sundarbans that impact the lives of poor farmers, 100-day job-seekers, migrant workers, tribals, forest dwellers, tea, bidi and gig workers, and other underprivileged groups.