NEW DELHI: A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a strong remark against the proposed Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, the BJP on Friday accused the CM of threatening that the state would face “riots and violence” if the Election Commission (EC) proceeds with the exercise.
The EC is learnt to have decided in principle to conduct the SIR in West Bengal and other states scheduled to go to assembly polls next year. Banerjee has alleged that her officials were being threatened even before the announcement of the assembly poll dates.
Banerjee accused the BJP of “playing with fire” in the name of SIR. She also warned that any attempt to tamper with the voter list would amount to a “betrayal of democracy”.
Hitting back, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said Banerjee’s comments on the SIR were shocking. “She said if SIR is conducted, there will be riots and other consequences in Bengal which will be horrifying. This means Mamata ji is threatening that if a constitutional process starts in Bengal, she will engineer riots and terrible consequences,” the BJP MP said.
Patra described Banerjee’s remarks as “irresponsible” and questioned whether she considered herself above the Constitution and entitled to take the law into her own hands to “secure votes from illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators” who are not entitled to vote in India.
“Mamata Banerjee, it’s your arrogance that you consider yourself above the Constitution and the country’s judicial system. Remember, you cannot be bigger than the Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s Constitution, no matter how many times you have served as a CM,” he said. Patra alleged that Banerjee has instigated unrest in West Bengal through recent attacks on BJP leaders, including party’s tribal MP Khagen Murmu.
