Mamata Banerjee's 'Take Aadhaar, Leave Others' Warning For Bengal Voters

'Leave your other documents, take the Aadhaar' - Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paraphrased that famous line from The Godfather as she warned Bengal voters to stay alert ahead of a possible revision of the state voter list in time for the Assembly election next year.

Ms Banerjee also accused the BJP-led federal government of trying to implement the controversial NRC, or National Register of Citizens, in the guise of a voter list revision.

"If someone comes to do a survey... never give your information. They will take your details and drop your name. Go to your polling station and see if your name is there or not. Keep the Aadhaar card... it has been made compulsory," the Trinamool Congress leader said.

She claimed the BJP had paid and deployed 500 teams of polling and federal government officials across Bengal to delete names of voters from certain communities. "We will not allow them to harass and deport every Bengali-speaking citizen by calling them 'Bangladeshi'."

"This 'lollipop government' (a snide reference to the ruling BJP) is threatening BDOs (block development officers) and DMs (district magistrates). They are saying they will take away their jobs... or put them in jail... (if they do not do as they say)," she raged, and threw in a pointed reminder, "The Election Commission comes and goes... but the state government remains..."

"I do respect the Election Commission but, you know, it is okay for kids to eat lollipops. But if adults have lollipops of a political party... then that is not okay," she said, declaring "I will not allow anyone to snatch anyone else's voting right... till my last breath I will not allow this."

"You take away people's rights. You oppress poor people by calling them 'Bangladeshis'. But poor people are in my heart... I don't accept caste, I accept humanity," she said.

Ms Banerjee's comments followed remarks by her nephew and senior Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee, who warned the Election Commission, "If even one person is denied voting right then 10 lakh Bengalis will march to Delhi, gherao Rajpath, and prove their might."

The BJP won't be able to cross 50 seats in the next election, he said.

On Wednesday too Mamata Banerjee hit out at the "lollipop government", saying, "Election Commission, I bow before you. Salaam to you... But please don't be the BJP's 'lollipop'..."

Ms Banerjee's warnings follow the INDIA opposition bloc accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of 'collusion' to commit voter fraud. The opposition has claimed the EC's 'special intensive revision' of the Bihar voter list - less than six months before polls - is designed to disenfranchise lakhs of voters and help the ruling BJP-Janata Dal United duo retain power.

The Bihar voter list revision has been mired in controversy since it was announced, with the opposition also questioning the EC's decision to exclude the Aadhaar - a commonly-used federal government ID - from the list of documents to be submitted for voter re-verification.

Last week the Supreme Court, hearing a clutch of petitions against the voter list revision, said Bihar voters challenging exclusion from the roll could use the Aadhaar to prove their identity.

The EC's Bihar exercise had dropped over 65 lakh names from the roll. The poll panel said the majority of these were either voters who had died or shifted out of the state. The court, however, said the list should be published and that voters should be given time to appeal the exclusion.

The Bengal Chief Minister, meanwhile, also criticised the BJP for 'insulting' the Bengali language, a row kicked up earlier this month after a Delhi Police letter referred to it as Bangladesh's national language. "If there is no Bengali then in which language are the national anthem and song written? They want people to forget Bengalis' role in the freedom movement."

"We will not tolerate this linguistic terror," she said.