Siliguri: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, addressing an election campaign in Sitalkuchi Assembly Constituency in Cooch Behar, urged voters to avenge the 2021 violence through EVMs in the 2026 polls. Banerjee addressed three election campaign meets at Sitalkuchi, Rajgunj and Falakata on Wednesday.
“In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP, aided by the Election Commission and the Central Armed Police Forces, seized control in Sitalkuchi at gunpoint, with the blood of four youths on their hands. We must avenge that democratically through the EVMs in this election,” Banerjee said. Notably, four voters were killed in CAPF firing in Sitalkuchi during the 2021 polls.
Exuding confidence of a victory, he stated that this land was a land of resistance, protest and not of submission. “Taking out four buckets of water from the ocean cannot empty it. This mass upsurge cannot be contained by them,” he said.
Banerjee challenged PM Modi to publish a white paper on funds transferred to people in the region under schemes like MGNREGA and housing, asserting that “if even 10 paise had been credited in the past two years, he would quit politics”.
Addressing the mammoth gathering at Sitalkuchi Panchayat Samity playground, Banerjee appealed for votes for Harihar Das. “He is also Ananta Maharaj’s candidate,” added Banerjee. Ananta Maharaj, BJP MP from Cooch Behar and a leader of the Greater Cooch Behar movement, holds significant sway over the Rajbanshi community—a key electoral factor in the region—and has recently shown signs of distancing himself from the saffron camp.
Campaigning for Swapna Barman, TMC candidate from Rajganj in Jalpaiguri—referring to the uncertainty over her candidature after Railways initially did not accept her resignation—Banerjee said: “The BJP conspired to stop this international athlete from contesting. It hasn’t even been 10 days since she lost her father, yet she was dragged to court. Their conspiracy failed.”
In Falakata, Banerjee said: “PM Modi loves to make poor people stand in queues. Demonetisation queue, SIR line, LPG line. Now you all stand in polling queues and give him a befitting answer.”
He assured that if the TMC formed the government, they would conduct a feasibility study and survey for a bridge on the Mujnai River. “We lost this seat with a small margin in 2021. The spontaneity and enthusiasm I see today is a clear pointer to our victory in this seat,” prophesied Banerjee.