Mamata Banerjee trained her guns on the BJP for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Waqf properties on Thursday.
Addressing a public meeting in Murshidabad’s Berhampore, Mamata reiterated the BJP had weaponised the SIR and was using it for its communal narrative.
“The BJP is indulging in religious politics over SIR. More than half of those who died in SIR-related incidents were Hindus,” Mamata told the crowd of Trinamool supporters. “Don’t cut the very branch you are sitting on.”
Mamata made it clear once again she would not allow NRC or detention camps to come up in any part of Bengal.
After opposing the amended Waqf Properties Act, introduced by the Narendra Modi government earlier this year, the Bengal government last week notified all Waqf properties in the state – around 82,000 in the state – to be registered in the central portal by December 5.
Like in Malda’s Gazole on Tuesday and in Murshidabad today, with an overwhelming Muslim population, Mamata assured Waqf properties would remain untouched.
“Waqf properties will not be encroached upon; the safety of minorities is my responsibility,” the chief minister said. “For the past few days, some miscreants have been spreading rumours that the state government has recorded religious sites as mosques or graveyards under Collector Khatian number 1. This is a lie.”
Protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act had escalated into large-scale violence in Murshidabad’s Jangipur and Umarpur, claiming three lives, and thousands of villagers homeless. Homes and shops in villages were torched and so were police vehicles.
The chief minister said she would not allow blood shed in Murshidabad in the coming days.
She also pushed back against BJP claims on undocumented migrants in Bengal. According to her, the Centre cannot deflect from its role. Border control, she reminded, is a Union responsibility.
Drawing attention to electoral tactics in other states, she warned the crowd about the dangers of fragmented voting.
“In Bihar, they cleverly put up four Independent candidates in each seat. This benefited the BJP. If Independents cut votes, the loss is yours, and the benefit is theirs,” she said.
Mamata’s rally came just hours after the TMC suspended MLA Humayun Kabir for comments related to a proposed “Babri Masjid-style” mosque in Murshidabad.
Without naming Humayun, the CM addressed the issue head-on. “Trinamool Congress does not practise communal politics and is firmly against it,” she said. She invoked Murshidabad’s layered past to underline her point.
“We cannot forget the history of Murshidabad. Siraj-ud-Daulah is revered in every home here. This district is the land of the Nawabs. It has holy places of all religions. People remember Siraj. The people of Murshidabad will not accept the politics of riots,” she told the gathering.
