Mamata, Abhishek urge mass participation in Trinamool’s protest march against SIR

Kolkata: Ahead of the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) mega rally to protest what it calls a “BJP-led conspiracy” behind the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, both party chairperson Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday issued an impassioned call to people and party workers to join the protest march.

Meanwhile, Abhishek alleged serious irregularities in South 24-Parganas’ Kulpi, claiming that several names were missing from the 2002 electoral roll. He questioned why the flawed 2003 rolls were being used in place of the legally mandated 2002 list. “In Kulpi, the 2002 voter list was not uploaded — instead, the 2003 list was used,” he said, accusing the BJP of “tampering with democracy.”

Moreover, Trinamool lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, demanding clarity on why outdated and flawed 2003 rolls are being used in Kulpi under the SIR process. “When the integrity of the voter list itself is in question, how can citizens trust the process?” Trinamool asked.

Earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee uploaded her self-composed song urging the people to attend the mega rally. “Ahead of Tuesday’s mega protest rally, please listen to my song as a reflection of what we intend to say,” Mamata wrote on X.

Her song “Jot Badho, Jot Badho/Badh Bhango, Badh Bahngo/Jachhe Pran, Karcho Pran,” was sung by senior party leader and singer Indranil Sen.

The rally will coincide with the day when the door-to-door enumeration for the SIR will start. The protest rally will start at around 2 pm from Ambedkar statue on Red Road and pass through Dharmatala, Central Avenue before ending at Jorasanko Thakurbari. Trinamool Congress top brass already made it clear that they would not let any legitimate voters’ names be struck off from electoral rolls.

Addressing the media flanked by Sovan Chatterjee and Baisakhi Bandopadhyay, who joined TMC in the presence of senior party leaders Subrata Bakshi and Aroop Biswas, on Monday, Abhishek urged the people to join the rally and said: “We have an anti-SIR rally tomorrow. Our party workers, leaders, and all the party soldiers have been urged to attend the rally. As the enumeration would start on the same day, only the leaders from 144 wards of KMC and from North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, and Howrah were asked to join the historical rally.”

He added: “Anti-SIR protest would continue and if the names of any legitimate voters are removed, the Election Commission (EC) office in Delhi would be gheraoed. EC had announced the SIR without consulting with the state government. Six people have died since the announcement of SIR. Who would take responsibility?”

Questioning the short span of the SIR process, Abhishek stated: “We would like to see how a process, which was done in 2 years last time, will be done within two months. What magic stick does the EC have to perform this within two months? SIR is not carried out in other states that share borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar.”

He also warned that “the way the BJP and EC have been functioning has triggered a revolt within the saffron camp itself”.

He also urged the people of Bengal not to fall into the trap of CAA camps and SIR. He claimed: “If you fall for the trap, the people here will face the same fate as the people in Assam did.”

Those who wrote their names in Assam camps found that their citizenships were removed, stated Abhishek.

“About 12 lakh Hindu Bengali voters were sent to detention camps in Assam,” Abhishek warned. He also assured that his party would not allow it to happen in Bengal.

Slamming Union Home minister Amit Shah’s statement that only those born in India have the voting rights, Abhishek said: “If we accept Saha’s logic, then LK Advani has no right to vote. Shantanu Thakur or Matua people have no right to cast their votes?” asked Abhishek.

Many members of the Matua, a Hindu refugee community, have migrated from Bangladesh over the decades. Both Santanu Thakur and Subrata Thakur belong to the Matua community.

On Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s alleged intimidation of BLOs, Abhishek said: “We have already informed the EC, which is acting as an associate of the BJP. We had guessed that the EC would not cooperate.

He claimed that after the debacle in the 2021 Assembly polls, the Narendra Modi government had stopped allocating funds under the 100-day work scheme to Bengal and welcomed the recent Supreme Court judgement, which paved the way for allocation of the long overdue money.

“From 400 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, they (BJP) have come down to 240. I challenge that the number of seats will go down below 100 in the next general elections and their Assembly seat tally (In West Bengal) will reduce drastically in the 2026 polls,” Banerjee claimed.

He also raised questions regarding the deportation of Sunali Khatun and Sweety Bibi to Bangladesh.

Trinamool MP Samirul Islam on social media said: “Abhishek on Monday pointed out that the names of Sunali Khatun’s father and mother are present in the 2002 electoral roll of the Murarai Assembly Constituency.”