Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday tore into the Election Commission, accusing it of taking instructions from the BJP to grab power in Bengal through the contentious special intensive revision (SIR) and of usurping the role of voters whose mandate alone should decide who governs the state.
She said the EC under chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar must not function as the “BJP commission” or attempt to satisfy the ruling party at the Centre at the cost of people’s lives.
At a public meeting at Trikone Park of Bongaon in the afternoon, Mamata said she would fiercely resist removal of genuine voters and urged people not to panic. She also took part in an anti-SIR rally on Jessore Road to express solidarity with Matua and other migrated Hindu families who fear complications arising from the “exclusionary, opaque” SIR, particularly the lack of many people’s linkage to the 2002 poll roll set by the EC as benchmark. She said her government would stand by them if the Centre tried to deport them.
“It appears the Election Commission will decide who will form the government. Its duty is to be impartial, not to become the BJP commission,” she said.
She asked why the SIR had been ordered just before Bengal polls when several other poll-bound states were exempted.
“Since people do not want the BJP in power and have voted against them (in Bengal), they now want to unleash fear,” she said. “You want to browbeat (people) to grab power, but as long as Trinamool Congress is here, it will not allow you to touch anyone.”
She repeated she was not opposed to an SIR, but one with enough time and
transparency.
She accused the EC of using AI to clone voter identities: “It may be that few Mamata Banerjees will be enrolled through AI, and even I, as a genuine voter, may be denied the right to vote.”
Referring to the Bihar SIR, she claimed other INDIA constituents had failed to detect the BJP’s gameplan. “But we (Trinamool) have. So they have now targeted Bengal in their greed for power. This is meant to teach Bengal a lesson and silence the Bengali language,” she said.
Mamata warned that she would take “shake the entire nation” if she or the people of Bengal were targeted.
She asked the CEC which party he was taking orders from. “Which party are you (CEC Kumar) trying to satisfy through this SIR exercise?” she asked.
Mamata alleged that the pro-BJP faction of the All India Matua Mahasangha led by junior Union minister Shantanu Thakur had been issuing a “religious identity card” to migrant Hindus applying for citizenship under CAA, identifying them as “Bangladeshis”.
She said the group misled people by saying the certificate would help them become voters, an assurance the EC has not given.
“The form is a formal acknowledgment of Bangladeshi identity,” she said. “When you apply for CAA and declare you are a Bangladeshi citizen wanting Indian citizenship, it will be proven that you are a foreigner. Use your brain. Don’t decide your future based on what you see on social media or godi media,” she said.
Anticipating large-scale discrepancies in the draft roll, Mamata said her party would revive door-to-door aid to support people.
“They are trying to do NRC (National Register of Citizens) in the name of SIR. They have bought all news media, but they (the media) can’t be blamed as they are afraid of the BJP and the agencies they use,” she said.
“Don’t choose the option of suicide. Your lives are too precious,” Mamata told people, adding she was their paharadar (protector), not jomidar (landlord).