"Not Easy To Play With Us": Mamata Banerjee Warns Poll Body Over SIR In Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday dubbed the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls as "votebandi", and asserted that she would protect the rights of voters at any cost, even if it meant her "throat getting slashed" for protesting against the exercise.

Urging the Election Commission to immediately stop the SIR, she asserted that unless the exercise was executed flawlessly with every genuine voter finding a place in the final rolls, its implementation in Bengal would not be as easy as it was in Bihar.

"I remember when Mr Seshan was election commissioner, he said the EC is for the people, not the government. I am sorry to see its current leaders only yapping 'yes sir' and 'yes sir'. You could do this (SIR) in Bihar because you could get away with it, but not in Bengal, where we will question you at every step. You only want to satisfy your boss, not the public. You cannot demolish democracy," Banerjee said, in an oblique reference to Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner.

She was responding to reporters at 'Uttarkanya' in Siliguri, the state secretariat in north Bengal, after holding an administrative meeting.

"It is not easy to play with us. We assess the pitch before playing. We will catch them at every step and ensure every genuine voter can vote. The EC will not follow the BJP's directions. If they want to punish me for saying this, they can. What will you do? Send me to jail, send agencies after me, strip my voting rights, even slash my throat, but do not torture the people and strip them of their voting rights," the CM asserted.

Blaming the Centre for "holding back state government employees in the name of conducting SIR", Banerjee accused the Union government of creating a "super emergency" like situation.

"The state employees are being held back till February next year when the final rolls will be published. After that the elections will be announced. When will the state government work? It's a deliberate ploy to keep the government out of action for three months. This is like a super emergency implemented in the garb of SIR," Banerjee claimed.

"Just like demonetisation was 'notebandi', SIR is 'votebandi'. The BJP-led central government is harassing people in the name of SIR," she alleged.

Banerjee lashed out at the Election Commission for allegedly "rushing" the SIR exercise and causing people "distress".

"I do not understand the hurry in conducting SIR just before elections. This is insulting to the people of Bengal. I firmly stand by my earlier stance that the EC must immediately stop this exercise. The revision cannot be completed in two or three months. I have heard of houses with eight voters where only two forms were distributed and the other six missing," she said.

"(Now) You must prove your identity. What greater humiliation could there be? They could have done this (SIR) over two years. What right does the EC have in determining who is a citizen and who isn't?" Banerjee asked.

The chief minister also targeted the Union government over the issue of infiltration, questioning why Union Home Minister Amit Shah should not take responsibility when border security lies with the BSF, a central agency.

"If the BSF is responsible for guarding the borders, why should you (Amit Shah) not be held accountable for infiltration? As a home minister, you must resign first. You have been in the chair for more than 10 years. You cannot keep on lying and mislead people," Banerjee claimed.

Hitting out at the Centre for "depriving the state" of its share of GST revenue, she demanded that the Goods and Services Tax be revoked, stating that it was a "blunder" to support it.

"Amit Mitra (former state finance minister) convinced me earlier and I conceded, but I now realise that was a mistake. Today, many transactions are taxed and the Centre is using money collected from states for wasteful expenditure, diverting funds to other states. Its main role should be restricted to defence and borders; most other matters are state prerogatives," she maintained.

"The Centre has been advertising that it made insurance tax-free; that is false. They take our money and then claim credit for benefits; this is misleading. That money came from our coffers, it is not their achievement," Banerjee added.

Meanwhile, the state's Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari brushed off Banerjee's demands, maintaining that the SIR exercise cannot be stopped at any cost.

"The CM should read the Constitution because it gives the EC supreme authority to conduct any exercise to ensure free and fair polls. The commission can even summon the army to complete the exercise. The SIR has begun, and it will conclude as per schedule," he said.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that both TMC and the BJP have created an atmosphere of panic over SIR to divert people's attention from the pertinent issues.

"People are being made to forget pressing issues like deterioration in key sectors like health and education, law and order, and corruption. Both TMC and BJP are equally guilty of spreading this fear over SIR," he said.

CPI(M) leader and advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya also took a dig at Banerjee for criticising the Centre over infiltration.

"Mamata Banerjee should be happy that the BJP is making this an issue because she was the one who raked up the matter when she was an opposition leader here. The BJP is only reaping what she had sown," Bhattacharya said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)