In a heated political exchange, West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar has hit back at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to stage a dharna on March 6 over deletions in the voter list post-SIR exercise. The announcement has intensified the bitter feud between TMC and BJP, with accusations flying thick and fast.
Majumdar dismissed the protest as a desperate ploy. ‘Let her sit on dharna; the public understands she’s fighting for illegal Bangladeshi entrants, Rohingyas, and dead voters,’ he quipped, highlighting what he called TMC’s protection of infiltrators.
TMC’s rising star Abhishek Banerjee led the charge earlier, convening a press meet to expose what he termed a BJP conspiracy. He asserted that the saffron party, fearing defeat in upcoming polls, had plotted with the Election Commission to purge more than 10 million names arbitrarily.
The dharna will unfold at Kolkata’s Esplanade – hallowed ground for Mamata’s 2008 26-day fast against state excesses. Abhishek challenged the poll panel: ‘Why hide the lists of so-called Bangladeshis and Rohingyas flagged in SIR? This is pure BJP fiction to rob citizens of their vote.’
He painted a grim picture: ‘Deaths from SIR scrutiny, illogical deletions – all to execute BJP’s one-crore deletion target. The Election Commission must answer for strangling democracy.’
This voter list imbroglio underscores deeper divides in Bengal politics. TMC frames it as an assault on democratic rights, while BJP counters it’s a cleanup of fraudulent entries. With Mamata’s street mobilization, the battle lines are drawn sharper than ever, promising high drama in the coming days.