Mamata Banerjee begins dharna in Kolkata over electoral roll deletions

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched a dharna (sit-in) outside Kolkata’s Esplanade metro station to protest the deletion of several million names during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.

This was the venue of her 26-day hunger strike in 2006 that compelled the then CPI(M) government to abort the Tata small car factory project.

After she called the Election Commission an “agent” of a “shameless Bharatiya Janata Party” in a brief speech, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee set the tone for her indefinite dharna by calling for a “total boycott” of the BJP in the coming state assembly polls.

“Boycott BJP. You may have reasons not to like TMC but Bengalis with the minimum sense of honour should not vote for BJP unless they want something bad to happen to Bengal. I predicted earlier that BJP will not get more than 50 (of 294) seats. After what has happened in the name of SIR, their tally should not cross 40,” Abhishek told the crowd.

“In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls we said ‘No vote to BJP’. Now we are saying ‘Boycott BJP’. Boycott them socially. Boycott those who were elected because they stopped Central funds for Bengal’s social welfare schemes including the rural housing project,” he said.

“Look around. Today, US President Donald Trump is deciding where India will buy petrol from. This is happening after the BJP’s tall promises on Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). Whereas in Bengal, BJP workers are standing in queue for the allowance Mamata Banerjee is giving under the Yuva Sathi scheme (for the unemployed),” Abhishek said.

“As many as 172 people have died by suicide or sudden illness because of the SIR. Ensure that there is no sign of the BJP in 172 assembly segments when the poll results are announced,” he added.

The ECI deleted around 6.3 million names and placed another six million voters, including several TMC MLAs, government officials and prominent citizens, in the ‘under adjudication’ category. This was announced on February 28 when the final list was released.

“We won’t say a word about six million people being kept under adjudication if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chair is also kept under adjudication because these people stood in queue to elect him, his cabinet ministers and the MPs who elected the President,” Abhishek said.

“If the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers are not under adjudication, then the voting right of these people must be restored. Mamata Banerjee will be on the streets as long as it is not done,” he added.

The chief minister did not disclose how she plans to continue the dharna.

She stayed back at the venue and sent her followers home, asking them to assemble by 9 am on Saturday. To many, this was a repetition of what she did in 2006 when prominent BJP leaders, who were her allies at that time, flew down to Kolkata to persuade her to break the fast.

Abhishek focused on how the chief minister had been protesting against the modalities of the SIR.

“Our chief minister personally argued before the Supreme Court as a citizen. No chief minister or Central minister ever did such a thing,” he said.

Alleging that the deletions were done along religious lines, Abhishek said 60% of those who died during the SIR were Hindus.

“We heard that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will be coming to Bengal on March 9. Since BJP claims that those deleted from the electoral roll are illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh or Rohingyas (from Myanmar), I urge Kumar to bring the list.”

The BJP held its Parivartan Yatra (rally for change) at more than six locations across Bengal while the TMC’s dharna was on. These were addressed by Union ministers and BJP national leaders.

At one such rally in East Midnapore, Union minister Giriraj Singh targeted Mamata Banerjee, saying she started the agitation to protect Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh.

Singh said: “Mamata is on dharna to protect Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh. There is an old saying in our village: ulta chor kotwal ko dante.”