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Bengal sees Mamata's rally vs Suvendu's rally over voter list revision, TMC dubs SIR ‘silent invisible rigging’
Suvendu Adhikari leads BJP's counter-rally to demand deportation of Bangladeshi infiltrators
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took the streets in a trademark style as she attacked the BJP with a massive protest rally against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state, in Kolkata on Tuesday, November 4.
“The BJP wants to win polls on the basis of notes, not votes,” she said, also alleging that the Centre's ruling party and the Election Commission are “branding all Bengali migrants as Bangladeshis”.
Simultaneously, the state's Leader of Opposition, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, led a counter-rally in the outskirts of the city, asserting that the TMC's stand against the SIR is “unconstitutional”. Every Bangladeshi infiltrator be deported from the country and the SIR be fully undertaken, he said.
What is Trinamool's stance, BJP view on SIR?
The SIR, particularly the idea that it would weed out "infiltrators" or illegal immigrants, has been criticised by most anti-BJP parties as an exercise pushed by the Hindutva-driven party of PM Narendra Modi to adversely impact Muslims and other sections that may not vote for it.
Mamata and her nephew, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, have dubbed it a backdoor implementation of the controversial NRC (National Register of Citizens) in which the burden of proving valid citizenship falls on individuals.
Adhikari said, “Those whose parents have residential and birth proofs in India need not worry,” accusing the TMC of misleading the public because it is “afraid of losing a big chunk of voters” once illegal voters are omitted.
He dared the TMC to try and stop the SIR exercise in West Bengal, where polls are due by March next year. In all, the SIR, held recently in Bihar, has started in 12 states and UTs for now.
The TMC has linked some recent suicide deaths with the “panic spread by SIR" and thus a fear of being deported or incarcerated if one does not have certain documents.
Abhishek recently told people to "confront and "tie up" local BJP leaders “if they ask for your parents’ birth certificates”.
The EC has remained firm that it's acting as an independent body for its aim of ensuring watertight electoral rolls.
A day of rallies in Bengal
The massive 3.8-km TMC rally, led by Mamata Banerjee in her trademark white cotton saree and slippers, began at the statue of BR Ambedkar on Red Road and culminated at Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore.
Thousands of TMC supporters thronged the rally route, waving party flags and raising slogans. Abhishek Banerjee followed the chief minister, flanked by senior TMC leaders and ministers.
In response, the BJP's 'Parivartan Yatra' (walk for change) covered a 2-km distance from Sodepur Traffic More to Agarpara Tentultala More, located in the Panihati assembly seat area.
Adhikari also spoke about one of the suicides linked by the TMC to the SIR that occurred in Panihati's Agarpara area. The TMC is falsely linking this death with the SIR exercise to derail the process, he said.
What's the NRC fear linked to SIR?
One of the issues linked to the SIR is the claim that foreigners, such as Muslims from Bangladesh, are illegally on voter lists. That's why the SIR is being seen by Opposition parties as “NRC by another name”.
The NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 have remained flashpoints over religion being a factor by which certain immigrants may get legal status. The CAA is seen by some as a method by which non-Muslims could manage to get citizenship if an NRC is done and people are unable to produce the required documents. The poor and dispossessed in general are vulnerable when documents are sought, the TMC and others have argued.
