‘Insensitivity towards migrants; assault on dignity, livelihood’ | Mamata writes to CEC, cites 77 deaths, harassment of eminent citizens in SIR

KOLKATA: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote again to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, expressing shock and concern over what she described as the Election Commission of India’s relentless harassment of ordinary citizens during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision. She alleged that the SIR process in Bengal, instead of merely updating electoral rolls, had been turned into a mechanism to exclude voters. Sharing the letter on her Facebook page, Banerjee wrote that what was unfolding in Bengal under the garb of SIR was an alarming assault on the dignity, livelihood and constitutional rights of citizens, with hearings being conducted mechanically and without sensitivity. She claimed the consequences had been devastating, linking 77 deaths, suicide attempts and hospitalisations to fear and anxiety arising from what she termed an unplanned and coercive process. Referring to hearing notices issued to eminent personalities, she said it was a matter of profound shame that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, along with figures such as poet Joy Goswami, actor and MP Deepak Adhikari, international cricketer Mohammad Shami and the Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, were subjected to what she called an insensitive and inhuman exercise.

Banerjee alleged that the ECI was drifting dangerously from its constitutional role, stating that democracy is not sustained by fear and electoral rolls are not purified by coercion. She also raised concerns about migrant workers and people living outside the state, saying that while select electors were allowed to appear through authorised family members, the same facility was denied to migrant workers, reflecting a lack of sensitivity to ground realities. At the end of the typed letter, the Chief Minister added a handwritten note stating that though she knew there might be no reply or clarification, it was her duty to inform the Commission of the details. In the letter, her fourth to the CEC in recent months, she alleged a disturbing pattern of political bias and autocratic high-handedness by an institution expected to function as a constitutional authority, but said it was still not too late for the poll body to course-correct, expressing hope that citizens’ agony would end and the sanctity of democracy would be restored before irreparable damage was done.