KOLKATA, Nov 10: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday dubbed the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls as “votebandi”, and asserted that she would protect the rights of voters at any cost, even if it meant her “throat getting slashed” for protesting against the exercise.
Urging the Election Commission to immediately stop the SIR, she asserted that unless the exercise was executed flawlessly with every genuine voter finding a place in the final rolls, its implementation in Bengal would not be as easy as it was in Bihar.
“I remember when Mr Seshan was election commissioner, he said the EC is for the people, not the government. I am sorry to see its current leaders only yapping ‘yes sir’ and ‘yes sir’. You could do this (SIR) in Bihar because you could get away with it, but not in Bengal, where we will question you at every step. You only want to satisfy your boss, not the public. You cannot demolish democracy,” Banerjee said, in an oblique reference to Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner.
“It is not easy to play with us. We assess the pitch before playing. We will catch them at every step and ensure every genuine voter can vote. The EC will not follow the BJP’s directions. If they want to punish me for saying this, they can. What will you do? Send me to jail, send agencies after me, strip my voting rights, even slash my throat, but do not torture the people and strip them of their voting rights,” the CM asserted.
Blaming the Centre for “holding back state government employees in the name of conducting SIR”, Banerjee accused the Union government of creating a “super emergency” like situation.
“The state employees are being held back till February next year when the final rolls will be published. After that the elections will be announced. When will the state government work? It’s a deliberate ploy to keep the government out of action for three months.”
“This is like a super emergency implemented in the garb of SIR,” Banerjee claimed.
“Just like demonetisation was ‘notebandi’, SIR is ‘votebandi’. The BJP-led central government is harassing people in the name of SIR,” she alleged.
Banerjee lashed out at the Election Commission for allegedly “rushing” the SIR exercise and causing people “distress”.
“(Now) You must prove your identity. What greater humiliation could there be? They could have done this (SIR) over two years. What right does the EC have in determining who is a citizen and who isn’t?” Banerjee asked.
The chief minister also targeted the Union government over the issue of infiltration, questioning why Union Home Minister Amit Shah should not take responsibility when border security lies with the BSF, a central agency. (PTI)
