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Voter deletions are an attempt to divide Bengal: Mamata Banerjee on day 2 of dharna
Mamata Banerjee protests voter deletions in West Bengal, alleges BJP is trying to divide the state ahead of upcoming elections
Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday that the deletion of voters’ names from the electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal is aimed at dividing the state.
She also alleged that CV Ananda Bose was “threatened” and forced to resign as the governor of West Bengal while calling RN Ravi, the new Governor, the “Bharatiya Janata Party’s parrot.” “Beware BJP. You can’t divide Bengal by deleting voters. Bengal knows how to fight. And if you cross the limits, your Delhi government will be toppled,” Banerjee added.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Banerjee’s dharna outside Kolkata’s Esplanade metro station to protest the alleged arbitrary deletion of several million people during the SIR of electoral rolls entered its second day on Saturday.
More than 6.3 million voters’ names were deleted from the final electoral roll released on February 28 after the SIR in the state. The fate of another six million still hangs in the balance as their claims are “under adjudication” by court-appointed judicial officers.
“You want to divide Bengal, but first deal with Epstein. Is this why voters’ names are being deleted? Voters’ names are being deleted to divide Bengal? People are not being allowed to protest. The more you attack us, the stronger the retaliation would be,” she said.
“Yesterday I saw an X-post. It must have been planted by those ‘evil babus’ who don’t have any names. That a Union Territory would be carved out of Bihar and Bengal. Let them touch Bengal if they have the guts. They want to divide Bengal. They did it once in Bihar by creating Jharkhand, and now they are trying to do it again. Wherever there is a double-engine government, there will be loot,” she added.
The Centre, however, said on social media that the claim was fake and no such proposal was under consideration.
“Did you see how CV Ananda Bose was removed from the Governor’s post? I know why he was removed. He was threatened. The intention is to turn the Raj Bhavan into a BJP’s party office from where money can be distributed. And the person who is coming to Bengal now, I heard that he had to face many remarks from the Supreme Court during his tenure in Tamil Nadu. He doesn’t do anything other than favouring BJP. He is a BJP’s cadre who has been turned into a parrot,” she said.
“Why was the Governor changed in West Bengal just ahead of the elections? No one is being allowed to complete their term. You did the same to Dhankhar (former Vice President of India). He did everything for the BJP. After the elections, he was sent to Delhi and appointed as the Vice President of India. In the case of Ajit Pawar too, I had urged for an investigation. Many people said many things back then, but later I was proven right. Ananda Bose was also removed. I know the reason. I won’t tell. But this much I would say: he was threatened,” she added.
Banerjee also directed the party’s women’s wing to launch a protest rally against the deletion of women’s names from the voters’ list. “There would be a protest by women on International Women’s Day. Wear black sarees. I will wear white. As there is no LPG, there would be no cooking and hence no food. So, bring kitchen utensils to the rally, including a gas oven. Also bring some groceries.”
