Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday likened the Election Commission to Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Adolf Hitler, accusing it of “bulldozing” democracy and asking it to take a lesson from the largely peaceful Bangladesh elections.
The chief minister said the “Tughlaqi Commission” was acting at the behest of the BJP to manipulate electoral rolls in Bengal and inflict “torture” on voters.
“They (Election Commission) must see.... Bangladesh elections were held a few days ago.... Everybody thought there would be violence.... But see how they have done it peacefully. India is a democratic country... it is a matter of shame, Tughlaqi Commission,” Mamata said during a media conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat.
“Your threat culture has destroyed democracy. You have bulldozed democracy. It was a demolition of democracy…. Such acts were not even seen in a monarchical system or in a Tughlaqi regime. Now there is a super Tughlaqi Raj, and (he) has turned into a super Hitler,” Mamata said, appearing to refer to chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Mamata’s reference to Bangladesh assumes significance at a time the BJP has been drawing parallels between her government and the outgoing interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. The BJP has also flagged the victory of Jamaat-e-Islami candidates in Bangladesh seats on the Bengal border in the polls.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari claimed the Jamaat received help from this side of the border.
“Now Didi has taken on the BJP and the Election Commission by citing Bangladesh’s peaceful elections. She has shown them an example that a country that was in turmoil can conduct an election peacefully, but the commission here has been trying to destroy the democratic fabric,” said a Trinamool leader.
Mamata said the Election Commission had turned into a “torture commission”.
At the media interaction that lasted 55 minutes, Mamata said: “I do not want to callit the Election Commission — it is a so-called ‘torture commission’. Those who are indulging in Tughlaq-like acts, those who are carrying out Hitler-like oppression — my question to them is: is a government elected through votes, or does some Tughlaqi commission conduct voting before the actual election according to its own wishes, favouring a particularpolitical party?”
State BJP chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said Mamata always compared Bengal with Bangladesh because every one of her political moves, from the “Joy Bangla” slogan to “Khela Hobe,” has been copied from the neighbouring nation. “It is difficult to understand whether she copies Bangladesh or Bangladesh copies her,” added Sarkar.
Mamata also accused the EC of conducting the SIR in violation of a Supreme Court verdict.
Many in Trinamool believe Mamata’s attack on the EC was unprecedented and guided by the fear that thousands of “genuine” voters might lose their voting rights. She also sought to boost the morale of state government employees after the EC suspended seven of them on the charge that they had approved the inclusion of ineligible voters’ names in the post-SIR rolls following hearings.
Despite her aggressive posturing, the Bengal government on Tuesday lodged FIRs against four state government employees — two electoral registration officers (EROs) and two assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) — for alleged “grave lapses” and violations of data security policies over electoral roll revisions during the SIR in the state.
However, Mamata sent a clear message that the state government would stand by its employees as she accused the EC of threatening them and taking action without giving them an opportunity for self-defence.
Mamata claimed that the poll body was trying to help the BJP by illegally excluding thousands of genuine voters. “If you check the final list, you will see many names missing. This manipulation is going on. In Bihar, a permanent residence certificate issued by the state government is accepted — why not in Bengal?” the chief minister asked.
She said it was the first time in her political career that she was seeing an EC being run by a political party. “I have never seen this type of Tughlaqi commission being run through a particular political party. They are going to destroy the democratic fabric of India. They are bulldozing federalism. They are interfering in every state matter. Their culture of threats has no limits,” she said.
“Till today, you do not know whose names are being added and whose names are being deleted. Now they have introduced a dashboard — if an ERO tries to upload a name, it shows ‘error’. They are specifically targeting minorities, SC and ST communities, Rajbanshis and the poor. In the name of ‘logical discrepancy’, women’s voting rights have been snatched,” Mamata said.
Without taking names, Mamata suggested that Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal was working to delete the names of Bengal voters. She warned of launching a worldwide campaign focused on the “wrongful actions of the EC” if the alleged atrocities continued.
“I am not against the country — I love my country, I am proud of it. But I will not tolerate this ‘one party, one rule’ or ‘one party, one nation’ culture. Nor will I tolerate this Tughlaqi commission culture anymore,” Mamata said.
She said her supporters could have gheraoed offices but refrained from doing so to allow the SIR process to be completed properly.
“I challenge them to hold a free and fair election by making sure that all legitimate voters are featured in the final list. But if you want to end our constitutional rights, then do remember that nobody will be spared.”
“How many infiltrators and Rohingyas have you found so far? In Bihar too, you spoke about infiltration. How many Bangladeshis have you found so far?” asked thechief minister.