Mamata Banerjee Threatens to “Shake” BJP in Country if it Adopted Unethical Means in Bengal

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Nov 25: The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday vowed to “shake” the foundation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) across the country if any attempt was made to remove her from the state through wrong and unethical means, and also attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) electoral rolls.and termed it as a BJP Commission.

Addressing an anti-SIR rally in Bongaon, Ms Banerjee also claimed that voters in Matua-majority areas in the state would be “immediately delisted” if they declared themselves foreigners under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Attacking the ECI, the chief minister said the Election Commission was “no longer an impartial body, but has turned into a BJP Commission.” The CM asserted that she had told the BJP “umpteen times” that it cannot “fight and defeat” her politically.

Launching a multi-point attack on her arch-nemesis, accusing it of committing fraud to win elections, including the landslide victory in Bihar, she said “Gujarat for Bengal” would have to be the bargain for the BJP if it tried to defeat her in her state. “I am making this prediction… the BJP is going to be defeated in Gujarat (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state). To win Bengal they will lose Gujarat,” she said at the rally.

She also had much to say on the ECI rushing through the SIR before next year’s Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Kerala polls and a jab at the Rs 10,000 stipend given to Bihar women a day before the elections. The BJP has held power in Gujarat since 1990, when the Congress was in power, and thumped its rivals in 2022, winning 156 of the state’s 182 seats and picking up nearly 50 per cent of the vote share.

In Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has led the Trinamool to a hat-trick of wins – the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha, and 2021 Assembly elections – over the BJP, but this could be her sternest test yet, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party buoyed by dominant wins in Delhi and Bihar elections. The BJP has shaken off celebrations from the Bihar win and focused on a new tactic to defeat Mamata Banerjee – by focusing on the Trinamool’s cadre to cut support to its leaders.

The Trinamool and other parties have pointed to the voter list revision as part of the BJP’s newfound poll-winning game plan, alleging it deletes voters from marginalised and oppressed communities, who support the opposition, under the guise of ‘ghuspathiyas‘, or ‘infiltrators’.

“Why is the SIR being carried out so hurriedly? Why is the SIR being carried out before elections? Take three years and we will help you…” Ms Banerjee said, echoing criticism by other parties, including the Congress. “If there really have been illegal immigrants staying in border districts all this time, then I want to ask who is responsible for guarding the international border? Airports and customs are all under control of the central government,” she pointed, out, But till I am here, I will not allow them to throw you out.”

She also took aim at the Election Commission, which has also come under heavy fire from the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and his PowerPoint presentations, and called it the ‘BJP Commission’. And, referring to booth-level officers who have died, some by suicide, over the past week, she questioned the need to rush through voter re-verification exercises months before an election.

“And three BLOs (booth-level officers) died because of lack of proper training under SIR. The lady BLO who committed suicide in Noida (in Uttar Pradesh) left a note blaming the EC.” Reports of stress-related BLO deaths have also come from other states, including Gujarat.

Banerjee also questioned why the SIR was being conducted in BJP-ruled states if the aim was only to remove “illegal Bangladeshis” wondering whether the party was “accepting that there are ‘ghuspaithiyas’ in double-engine ruled states.” “I love Bangladesh as a country, because our language is the same. I am from Birbhum, but one day they will call me Bangladeshi. PM Modi got votes in 2024 as per the same list. If your name gets deleted, the Central government should also be deleted. Why conducting SIR in such a hurry?” the CM asked.

She claimed that the draft voter list would reveal “the disastrous situation created by the Election Commission and the BJP,” The CM further said, “If SIR is conducted over two-three years, we will support exercise with every possible resource.”