Mamata blames AIMIM, ISF for Malda gherao incident

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday blamed the AIMIM and ISF for the gherao of judicial officers in Malda district and accused the Congress and the BJP of instigation.

Stating that the mastermind behind Wednesday’s gherao of the judicial officers for several hours in Malda district’s Mothabari was arrested by the State’s CID, Banerjee claimed that this police organisation is still under her control and not of the Election Commission.

“The BJP loaned him (the accused) from the AIMIM and brought him here,” she alleged, while addressing an election rally at Harirampur in Dakshin Dinajpur district.

“ISF is with them; Congress and BJP have also provided instigation,” the Trinamool Congress chief alleged, stating that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the main accused, advocate Mofakkarul Islam, from Bagdogra airport when he was trying to flee.

“It is they who engineered the violence in Malda’s Mothabari,” she said.

Alleging that goons were being brought in from outside to create unrest in poll-bound West Bengal, Banerjee said, “They don’t even spare the judges.”

Banerjee accused the AIMIM, whose chief Asaduddin Owaisi has come out in support of Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), floated recently by former TMC MLA Humayun Kabir, of having divided votes in the Bihar assembly elections to help the BJP win the polls.

Kabir has vowed to take on the TMC and also the BJP in all assembly seats in the Muslim-majority Murshidabad district.

Pointing out that voters’ names were deleted during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise and expressing agreement with their anguish, Banerjee said she has fought for their rights and for their names to be included in the electoral rolls.

She questioned why the assembly polls could not be conducted with the same electoral rolls used in the 2024 general elections. “If the voter list contained names of infiltrators, Modi also won with their votes earlier, so he should resign first,” she said.

“Money is being brought in using CRPF vehicles,” she alleged, claiming that she knows where these were going.

“I have a record of these movements and will expose them at the appropriate time,” she said. Banerjee said that the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in West Bengal during the polls will lead to a reduction in the BJP’s vote share.

Shah has said he would camp in West Bengal for 15 days during the two-phase assembly elections in the State on April 23 and 29.

“You may stay in West Bengal for 365 days, but that will not change anything,” Banerjee said.

Accusing the BJP of having created a ruckus near her Kalighat residence on Thursday during the nomination rally of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, led by Shah, she said, “It is futile to expect any courtesy from them.”

Claiming that the names of 40,000 voters of Bhabanipur constituency, from where she is contesting to get reelected, have been deleted in the SIR exercise, she asserted, despite that the TMC will win this election.

“I am your candidate in all the 294 constituencies in the State... Forget whose name is there as our party nominee,” the TMC chief said.

She also accused the BJP of trying to impose a new version of religion on people.

“The BJP is trying to spread venom amongst people,” she said, maintaining that she celebrates festivals of all religions.

Banerjee said her MPs have told her that the BJP is planning to bring in the Delimitation Bill in Parliament.

Asserting that the BJP will lose in the 2026 assembly polls, Banerjee said that the saffron party will be driven out of Delhi after defeat in West Bengal.

“They want to divide Bengal again,” she said, claiming that a map had surfaced on social media showing a proposal to carve out a new State comprising some districts of Bihar and north Bengal.

The chief minister said that the Election Commission has appointed a new DGP, police commissioners, district magistrates and other officers.

“I know they are all from West Bengal and will support the State,” she said, maintaining that they should not listen to the BJP and instead work for the people.

Alleging that names of outsiders were being included in the voter list during the SIR exercise, Banerjee, at another election meeting in Raiganj, said that the BJP has submitted sacks full of forms to the EC for this purpose.

The TMC has been alleging that the BJP has submitted thousands of Form 6 to the EC for inclusion of names in the voter list.

Accusing the EC of adopting a pick and choose criteria for inclusion in the voter list, the TMC chief claimed that the names of minorities, women, workers, those belonging to the SC and ST categories were being deleted.

Banerjee accused the BJP of bringing in goons from outside and also indulging in “money laundering”.

She alleged that the BJP had brought people into Bihar during the assembly elections for voting and claimed that the same plot was in the making in West Bengal.

“Central agencies are being misused for the purpose,” she said.

Claiming that the lion’s share of transfer of officers before assembly elections were in West Bengal out of the five States, she said, “Doesn’t the BJP feel ashamed, I would have hung myself in shame.”

Accusing the Congress of being hand-in-glove with the BJP in West Bengal, the TMC chief claimed that the grand old party’s workers were not seen during the SIR exercise.

“I repeatedly appealed to them to go to the EC office together, but they did not respond,” she said.

“You (Congress) have kept one foot in the BJP stable,” she said, maintaining that to fight elections, one has to be with the people through all seasons and not just during the polls.

The TMC and the Congress are part of the Opposition INDIA grouping that was formed before the 2024 general elections to take on the BJP.

Abhishek Banerjee slams Centre

Kolkata: Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday accused the Narendra Modi Government of causing hardships to people through “mishandling” of issues such as LPG supply, demonetisation, SIR hearings and the lockdown. Addressing an election rally in West Bengal’s Purulia district in support of party candidate Arjun Mahato from Joypur Assembly seat, Banerjee alleged that prices of essential commodities have risen sharply under the present dispensation.

“Prices of LPG cylinders have risen from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000, milk from Rs 28 to over Rs 60, kerosene from Rs 14 to Rs 40. Prices of every essential commodity have skyrocketed,” he claimed. “The Modi Government only forces people to stand in long queues - from LPG dealers’ camps to SIR hearing camps, from bank branches and ATMs after notebandi. It never thinks about the agony and misery of people,” he said.

Banerjee also referred to the days of lockdown, which “was declared by the Modi Government in an unplanned manner,” and how it compounded the misery of thousands of migrant workers from Bengal who were stranded at their workplaces due to the sudden shutdown and had great difficulty in returning.

Alleging that the BJP was trying to control the Election Commission and influence the elections in West Bengal in their favour, the Diamond Harbour MP said, “They (BJP) have the remote control, but we have the EVM button which they cannot take away from us.”

Accusing BJP MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato of “doing little to improve the living conditions of the electors in Purulia Lok Sabha constituency, Banerjee said, “I dare both Mahato and the local BJP MLA, Narahari Mahato, to submit a break-up of projects you have implemented for the people.”

“If you can prove even 10 paisa you had managed to secure from Modi, I will never ask for votes for TMC from here anymore. Let there be an open debate where you and I will seat face to face on a stage,” he added.

Listing the initiatives of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the poor, he said, “Despite the Centre blocking funds under PM Awas Yojana, our CM mobilised funds for the ‘Banglar Bari’ project and already 32 lakh families have got houses.”

“From building roads under the Pathashree project to supplying clean drinking water to households, the Mamata Banerjee Government has undertaken a slew of development projects in the district, including Joypur,” he added.

Banerjee wanted to know what happened to Mahato’s earlier election promise to build a super speciality hospital in the area, as people have to rush to Jhalda and Purulia for medical needs.

“We have been in power in West Bengal for 15 years, and our chief minister delivers on every promise. The BJP, which has been in power at the Centre for 12 years, should present its report card. What about their promise of Rs 14 lakh in every bank account that Modi made during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls?” he said.

“The BJP is in power in 15 States. I challenge them -- implement even one scheme like Mamata Banerjee’s Lakshmir Bhandar in any State,” Banerjee said.

The elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases - on April 23 and 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.