Will shake nation if hit, Mamata tells ECI, BJP

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday warned “Mr Yes Sir” (read a top officer of the Election Commission of India) and the BJP leadership against “your nefarious designs to capture Bengal by deceitfully employing Special Intensive Revision” and said she would hit back if she was hit.

In a circuitous reference to a senior Union Minister Banerjee said the “Yes Sir person in ECI is implementing whatever “your Mamu” (maternal uncle) says, you are deleting names at will in order to capture Bengal which has repeatedly rejected you deceitfully but remember if I am hurt I will hit back with double force, If you do anything to Bengal then I will shake the entire nation... soon after the elections I will take a tour of the entire country and make you suffer consequences for what you have been doing to Bengal.”

An injured tigress was more dangerous than a normal one, she warned apparently comparing herself to a tigress. The Chief Minister on Tuesday led a long anti-SIR march from Chandpara to Thakurnagar, the headquarters of the Matua sect.

Matuas constitute an overwhelming population of about 80 lakh voters from the scheduled caste mostly refugees of the Bangladesh war and post-Partition era. The Matua votes can influence 74 Assembly seats across 3-5 districts of Bengal.

“Remember the British could not dominate Bengal and finally had to shift the national Capital from Kolkata to Delhi,” she said, warning, “after the 2029 general elections, there will be no BJP in India, and your Shakuni Mama (the ever-intriguing character of Mahabharata) will not find a place to hide.

Banerjee’s talking point was the SIR that was “being thrust on the people of Bengal in the most cruel and unplanned manner.” She said, “we are not against SIR which was conducted in 2002 but then it took three years and now you are forcefully enforcing it in two months, why did you not start it earlier... what is the ulterior motive behind doing it... who are you trying to help win the elections, are you taking your instructions from your political Guru the Home Minister (read Amit Shah) Banerjee said wondering why the names of those people who have been living in India for decades should be struck out.

“You are torturing the people of Bengal… you call them Bangladeshis because they speak in the Bengali language but remember India owes its freedom primarily to Bengal because it was Bengal and Punjab that made maximum sacrifice for Indian Independence,” she said, asking the people not to get scared and commit suicides.

“At least three booth level officers (BLOs) have committed suicide without being able to take the pressure many of them are in hospitals and about 35 people have died since when the SIR started,” she said, asking “who will account for these deaths,” and alleging that the BJP was doing this because it wanted to get Bengal overwhelmed by Gujarat.

“I love Gujarat too… but why should Gujarat be allowed to dominate the proceedings in Bengal,” she said, adding, “even in Gujarat the BJP will lose in the next elections.” Asking how Prime Minister Narendra Modi could continue on his post if the electoral rolls of 2024 were fake, Banerjee said.

“I don’t want to launch any personal attack but my question to the Prime Minister is how he can continue on his post if the 2024 electoral rolls on which the general elections were held was fake,” she added.

Saying the people of Bengal would never vote for the BJP and never allow it to come to power Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister attacked the State BJP leadership for misleading them about the efficacy of the Citizenship Amendment Act. She said, “They are making you fill and sign forms where you will write that you have come from some other country thus you will expose yourself to being harassed… and mind you they are talking about provisional citizenship… which will have no importance after a few months and then they will make you puppets in their hands.”