Cooch Behar: Women of booth no. 8 in Pashchim Bhulki, under Burirhat Gram Panchayat No. 1 of the Dinhata Assembly Constituency, staged an unusual protest on Wednesday while submitting their filled-up SIR forms to the Booth Level Officer (BLO).
Holding their forms in one hand and ink-smeared pictures of former Union minister and BJP MP Nishith Pramanik in the other, the women said they were expressing their anger over Pramanik’s recent “insulting” remarks about Dinhata’s residents. The incident occurred when the BLO arrived in the locality in the afternoon to collect completed Special Intensive Revision (SIR) forms. A group of women gathered with printed photos of Pramanik and smeared them with ink before handing in their forms. They alleged that Pramanik’s comment—claiming that in a specific part of Dinhata “one father has 30 or 40 sons”—was derogatory and amounted to shaming the people of the region.
The controversy originated on Tuesday when Pramanik, while filing a case at the Dinhata court, alleged voter list irregularities and cited the example of “30 sons in the name of a single father”. His remark quickly triggered widespread reactions. North Bengal Development minister Udayan Guha sharply criticised the BJP leader, saying: “Nishith Pramanik should visit the area instead of making baseless comments from home. If he goes there, people will answer him.” Two local residents who joined the protest, Babli Sharma and Chandana Sharma, said: “On what basis did he make such a statement? He has insulted the people of this place and that is why we are protesting.”
Dinhata-II Block Trinamool Congress vice-president Abdul Sattar said the protest reflected public resentment over Pramanik’s recent remarks. However, Cooch Behar District BJP president Abhijit Barman dismissed the allegations. “I do not know what Nishith Pramanik said. Those protesting are Trinamool supporters. Trinamool is trying to mislead the people,” he said.