Mamata Banerjee on Monday warned “super-god” chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar against exceeding his brief and said it was good to have shahosh (courage), but duhshahosh (temerity) could invite unpleasant ramifications.
The chief minister’s warning came soon after Kumar purportedly issued harsh threats to Bengal government officials. The Election Commission’s full bench, led by Kumar, held meetings with government officials at a New Town hotel to review preparations for the Assembly polls.
“I pity Vanish (Gyanesh) Kumar. Without disrespecting the chair, I would like to say that I have heard that officers were threatened today in the meeting. He has said that he will not only take action now but has threatened to take action even after May,” Mamata said while speaking from the dais at Esplanade’s Metro Channel, where she has been holding a dharna since Friday afternoon against large-scale deletions from the “final” voter list.
“Will your chair remain after May? First save your chair, then threaten the officers and people of Bengal,” added the Trinamool Congress chairperson. “I want to tell him, having shahosh is good, but duhshahosh isn’t.”
Mamata said Kumar — whom she accused of believing he was Spider-Man, the Marvel superhero — was living in a fool’s paradise, and that people like him destroyed democracy.
Jeering at a purported incident during Kumar’s visit to the Kalighat temple earlier in the day, Mamata said: “Someone almost slipped while he went to visit a temple. That’s probably a sign that even the Mother Goddess is unhappy with him for removing the names of legitimate voters.”
“When the BJP is dethroned from power, we will present you in the court of the people,” she added.
The chief minister implied that Kumar — allegedly at the BJP’s behest — was “planning a lot of things”.
“Why was there no ‘logical discrepancy’ in Bihar? Why is it only happening in Bengal? It’s you who have used AI and made errors in surnames.... Your brain will be eaten up by AI,” she said.
“Names of both Hindus and Muslims have been deleted mercilessly. Muslims have been particularly targeted. They have a problem with the letter M. That is why they are jealous of me, since my name starts with M,” she added.
The chief minister alleged the BJP-EC nexus’s first plan was to remove genuine electors (those sections deemed unlikely to vote for the saffron camp) till the elections approached, and the second plan was to tamper with the EVMs.
“Then, on the day of counting, they will first go on showing only those seats in which the BJP leads. Seats in which we lead will be shown much later. They will do it deliberately to send the wrong message to the public, to threaten and manipulate the officials,” Mamata said, suggesting she had credible input for the substantiation of such claims.
“Mahatma Gandhi was killed with three bullets. Now, they are trying to kill democracy using the triad of the NRC, the SIR, and the CAA,” she added.
Mamata tore into central investigation agencies and said even the army was no longer allowed to remain apolitical in the BJP regime.
“They have not even spared the army. In some places, army headquarters have been converted into their party offices.... Remember, we are keeping records of all of this. What will happen after the BJP loses power?” she asked.
“Last time, they (BJP) said they would win 200 seats. They couldn’t even cross 100. This time, we will throw them out of Delhi!”
Speaking after her, Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee vowed that the fight would continue until the voting rights of 60 lakh people (who are “under adjudication”) were restored. He also urged Mamata to consider her health and allow the party’s youth wing to continue spearheading the street fight.
The Diamond Harbour MP asked why, out of 5,000-odd hotels in Calcutta, Kumar chose to stay where Shah and other top BJP leaders preferred to check in.
