Mamata questions EC's directive to suspend 4 officers, says her govt is with its staffers

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that her government is with its employees, questioning the Election Commission's suspension of four officers, including two state civil servants. The EC had on Tuesday ordered the suspension of four officers and a casual worker of the West Bengal government for allegedly failing to perform their duties and committing lapses while preparing the electoral rolls in two districts. The poll panel also directed that FIRs be lodged against the five -- two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and a data entry operator. Questioning the EC's directive, Banerjee said, "We all know the EC can take action only from the date of announcement of elections."

With the assembly elections in West Bengal due in mid-2026, a raging political debate is on as to whether a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will be undertaken in the state on the lines of neighbouring Bihar, where it has been held and draft rolls announced. Banerjee said that her government is with all officers and other employees of the state government. Speaking at a government distribution programme of welfare schemes, she questioned under which rule the suspensions were ordered, claiming that the Constitution does not provide for any such provision. "We all know that the EC can take action only from the date of announcement of elections. There is a lot of time left for elections, do they think that they can browbeat anybody in the name of NRC?" she asked. The chief minister has been alleging that the EC is trying to introduce NRC "through the back door" in the garb of SIR. Maintaining that a conspiracy is on to delete names of genuine voters from the electoral rolls, Banerjee asked everyone to get their names enlisted again. She asked how all people who were born much earlier, like her, can have their birth certificates, since many were born at home or may have lost their documents owing to various natural issues. "Do those who are making the laws have all their documents in order?" the chief minister asked.

Banerjee, who has launched a protest programme over the Bengali language issue, asserted that the mother tongue is everyone's pride. Claiming that migrant workers from West Bengal are facing atrocities in other states for speaking in the Bengali language, she said that more than 2,000 people have been brought back to their native places. Banerjee claimed that Bengali-speaking people were facing hardships in some BJP-ruled states and that some were being pushed into Bangladesh. "This is a conspiracy of double-engine governments," she said, pointing to BJP-ruled states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Stating that the country's national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' was written in the Bengali language, she said that now, the existence of the language itself was being questioned. Banerjee claimed that Bengali-speaking migrant workers in some states were being branded Bangladeshi or even Rohingyas from Myanmar. "Is it a crime to speak in one's own mother tongue?" she asked. "If someone is really an illegal immigrant, then they should be sent back, but in the name of this, genuine Indian citizens are being harassed," she said. She also questioned notices allegedly received by some north Bengal residents from the Assam government, saying, "This will not be tolerated." She claimed that the migrant labourers from West Bengal had been called to other states owing to their skill, maintaining that they had not gone on their own. "What about 1.5 crore migrant labourers from other states working in West Bengal? " she asked. Displaying the image of a Rs 10 currency note of 1912 in her mobile phone, she said that the Bengali language was inscribed on it. "They are now saying that there is no Bengali language," she maintained.