Mamata Banerjee again threw her weight behind Booth Level Officers, saying the scramble to meet the Special Intensive Revision deadline in 12 states has left many workers under severe strain.
“BLOs have died in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Bengal. Their demands are completely justified,” Mamata said at a government event to commemorate the Constitution Day in Calcutta’s Red Road.
Mamata’s comments came in the heels of a sit-in demonstration by a section of the BLOs at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Calcutta. The sit-in demonstration was called off after the Bengal CEO met them.
“For 48-hours they had to wait to get themselves heard. So inhuman. Why so much arrogance? BLOs are dying. Won’t they speak out? How can work that requires three years to be completed be wrapped up in two months?” Mamata asked.
Several BLOs have died in different parts of the country, with Trinamul attributing many of the Bengal deaths to suicides driven by SIR-related stress.
On Tuesday, an assistant teacher in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district, serving as a BLO in Khempur gram panchayat, died by suicide.
Last week, Mamata wrote to the chief election commissioner arguing for halting the SIR exercise in Bengal, where the deaths and pressure on the BLOs was cited as one of the reasons.
Mamata has said the Trinamool would have welcomed the exercise if it was carried out in a planned manner.
The chief minister also said that the Constitution was in danger.
“Now, when democracy is at stake, when secularism is in an endangered situation, when federalism is being bulldozed, at this critical time, we must protect the valuable guidance that our Constitution provides,” Mamata wrote on her X. “On this sacred day, we re-affirm our commitment to the core democratic values enshrined in our Constitution and commit to vigilantly safeguard the sacred principles that define and sustain us as a nation.”
At Red Road, Mamata read out the Preamble of the Constitution.
“This is a positive reminder to defend the democratic rights of the people,” Mamata said before reading out the Preamble.
“Voting rights are being snatched. Communal and social divisions are being encouraged. All rights are being snatched. We have to fight against this together,” she said.