Mamata Banerjee and top Trinamool leaders took out a rally in Kolkata today
- Mamata Banerjee urged people to ensure their names are on West Bengal voter lists
- She claimed those missing from the list could face jail during the revision process
- Mamata Banerjee accused the Election Commission of targeting migrants and the underprivileged
With the Election Commission gearing up for a Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in West Bengal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed that people whose names are not on the voters' list will be jailed and urged people to ensure their names are on the list, even if they need to skip work for the verification.
The Trinamool Congress leader has earlier accused the Election Commission of India of "acting like a stooge of the BJP" and wondered if the voter list revision was a "backdoor attempt to implement the National Register of Citizens".
Assembly polls in Bengal are due next year and the poll body has decided to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in the state. Such a revision is currently being done in Bihar. Ms Banerjee has alleged that this is part of a conspiracy to delete the names of valid voters, especially the migrants and the underprivileged.
Ms Banerjee today took out a march in rain-soaked Kolkata to protest the alleged harassment of Bengali speakers in BJP-ruled states. Accusing the BJP-led central and state governments of targeting Bengali migrants, she said Bengal fought for India's freedom, and BJP should be ashamed.
"What does BJP think? They will hurt Bengalis? They are calling them Rohingya. Rohingya are in Myanmar, not here. 22 lakh poor migrant workers are being targeted. I appeal to them to return home. They will be safe here. The BJP is sending Bengali speakers to detention camps. Is West Bengal not in India?" Ms Banerjee said. She asked if the BJP had forgotten Bengalis' sacrifice and freedom fighters.
Countering the BJP's charge of her government backing Bangladeshi infiltrators, she said, "The border is under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Why aren't they stopping infiltrators?"
"They are saying they will check the 2002 voter list. So many people have died, so many babies have been born. When the voter list revision begins, skip work if need be, but ensure your name is on the list," she said, warning that those whose names are not on the list might also be sent to jail.
Ms Banerjee, who is in her third term at Bengal's helm, faces her next poll fight next year. Besides anti-incumbency, her government faces allegations of corruption and has come under fire for incidents such as the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case and a law student's sex assault.
Against this backdrop, the Trinamool is relying on its tried-and-tested 'outsider' offensive against the main opposition BJP. It has alleged a systematic pattern of linguistic profiling, unlawful detentions, and attempts to brand Bengali speakers as "illegal immigrants". The allegations follow the detention of some migrant workers in Odisha, an eviction drive in Delhi, and an Assam foreigners' tribunal's notice to a Bengal farmer. Ms Banerjee has projected this in the form of a systemic pattern to target Bengalis. Coming a year before the polls, this rally sets the tone for the Trinamool campaign, as it plays up identity politics to prevail over the BJP.
BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, has questioned if "Bengali asmita" is being flaunted to shield the presence of "Bengali-speaking Rohingyas and illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators".
"And if she is so concerned about Bengali identity, why don't you hear the cries of the thousands of Bengalis who, due to your corruption, lost their teaching jobs and are protesting on the streets? Where does Bengali identity go when your government and administration, despite having competent and skilled Bengali officers, seeks out 'outsiders' who will merely follow your orders?'
"The people of Bengal know that you prioritise nothing but vote-bank politics, so everyone well understands that your politics of Bengali identity is merely an attempt to divert attention from your mountain of corruption," Mr Adhikari said on X.
