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Kolkata: Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday saying the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll announced by ECI the previous day had been planned only to delete names of genuine voters in West Bengal.
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“This SIR is not a special intensive revision but a silent invisible rigging.. TMC will take a hundred thousand people to Delhi and hold agitations if names of genuine voters are deleted. You have started this game. We will finish it,” Banerjee said at a press conference.
Challenging the BJP, which won 75 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats in 2021, Banerjee said: “BJP leaders, including some who can’t even win a municipal poll, are claiming that TMC is scared of losing its vote bank during the SIR. TMC does not depend on any vote bank. Our government works for all citizens.”
“Carry out your SIR. We will bring down the BJP’s tally to 50 in 2026. And our number will go up, even if by just one seat. This is my challenge. Let BJP face it. Let them sign an undertaking stating that once they lose the Centre will release the ₹2,00,000 crore towards central funds not paid since 2022 for social welfare schemes,” he said.
The Lok Sabha member pointed at a map of north-east India and claimed that West Bengal is the actual target of SIR Phase-2 announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday in 12 states and union territories.
“BJP alleges that Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have taken shelter in West Bengal. Myanmar shares its borders with Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. But the SIR has not been ordered in these states. Why?” Banerjee said.
“Myanmar shares its border with Bangladesh which shares its borders with Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. There is no SIR in any of these states although Assam, where BJP rules, goes to polls like us in 2026,” Banerjee added.
“If Rohingyas entered India illegally they couldn’t have reached Bengal without passing through these states or Bangladesh. Rohingyas have been nabbed in Assam as well,” he said.
To be sure, CEC Kumar said on Monday that Assam has been kept out of the current SIR exercise since citizenship screening is on in that state following a Supreme Court guideline. He said an order for SIR in Assam would be issued later.
Banerjee, however, said, “Assam has been trickily kept out.”
Banerjee targeted Union home minister Amit Shah as well.
“You are the most incompetent home minister in India’s history. You can neither stop terror attacks in Kashmir nor the infiltration from Myanmar and Bangladesh. There is no TMC in Jammu and Kashmir. How could the terrorists enter Pahalgam and kill 26 people? After the incident you rewarded the Intelligence Bureau chief with an extension in service,” the TMC leader said.
He warned the CEC as well.
“Gyanesh Kumar, please don’t flee the country once the current government falls. No government is permanent. We will find you out no matter where you hide. I have a lot of information but I won’t disclose everything today,” Banerjee said.
Countering him, Union minister of state Sukanta Majumar said TMC should stop worrying about Hindu refugees and Dalit Matuas who entered West Bengal over the past decades to escape religious persecution in Bangladesh.
“These people are protected by the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Banerjee should worry about his brothers who sneak into Bengal in boats and run illegal syndicates,” said Majumdar.
“Whatever Banerjee said today exposes his ignorance about the citizenship issue in Assam. Gyanesh Kumar clarified this on Monday. Banerjee talked about the SIR not being held in the North-East states. Reality is that people in these states don’t want to provide any shelter for Rohingyas while he is ready. Let him vouch that Rohingyas have not set up settlements in South 24 Parganas district. We will counter him with video recordings. Can the Centre allow such mass infiltration?” Majumdar added.
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