SIR in West Bengal: Mamata claims 100 deaths, three to four daily suicides

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (January 23) alleged that everyday three to four people are dying by suicide in the state out of fear over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

‘Over 100 SIR-related deaths in Bengal’

Addressing a programme at Red Road in Central Kolkata on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) demanded that the Election Commission and the BJP-led government at the Centre must take responsibility for the deaths.

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"More than 110 people have already died; everyday three to four people are dying by suicide out of SIR anxiety... 40 to 45 more people are fighting for their lives in hospitals. After all these years, we have to prove whether we are citizens of this country?" said Banerjee.

The special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway in the state ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

‘BJP conspiring against Bengal’

Lashing out at the BJP, the Chief Minister accused the saffron party of conspiring against Bengal, and claimed that icons of the country like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Bose, B R Ambedkar and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar were being insulted.

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"We are noticing that attempts are being made to distort the history of India... Insult, intolerance, ingratitude towards them and an affront towards language; all these lie ahead of us," she alleged.

She accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of having abolished the Planning Commission, “which was envisaged by Subhas Chandra Bose”, and replacing it with the Niti Aayog.

‘Netaji’s birthday not yet a national holiday’

Banerjee also said it is unfortunate that Bose’s birthday has not yet been declared a national holiday.

She said that dreams of the country's icons are being “broken to pieces”, alleging that the saffron brigade's version of history was forced upon people.

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"This has no relation to the history of the country," Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said.

"People's rights are being taken away, and democracy is being crushed," she said, asking on a sarcastic note whether Bose would have been summoned for an SIR hearing in the name of logical discrepancy had he been alive, and questioned about his Indian citizenship.

‘1.38 crore logical discrepancy summons’

Claiming that 1.38 crore people have been summoned by the EC for the SIR hearings over logical discrepancies, she said that already 58 lakh names have been deleted in the draft rolls.

"The total number is two crore," the chief minister asserted.

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Banerjee alleged that the BJP’s top leadership use teleprompters to say a few words in Bengali during their speeches before elections, and “insult the intelligentsia of Bengal by doing so”.

Noting that Bengalis spell their surnames in different ways, giving her own example that her surname is spelt as both Banerjee and Bandopadhyay, Banerjee wondered why “this is not known by those conducting the SIR exercise”.

"On account of such mismatches, 1.38 crore people have been given notice," she said.

On Amartya Sen getting SIR notice

The CM also claimed that elderly people were made to come for the SIR hearings, and questioned why celebrated economist Amartya Sen was sent a notice in this regard.

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"They (BJP) will now decide whether children will be born or not; already they are dictating what people will eat and what they shall not," she alleged.

Asserting that humanity is having to fight against inhumanity today, she said, "We are battling against the Kauravas", drawing a parallel with the clash between good and evil in the epic Mahabharata.

Referring to Bose’s famous slogan 'Dilli Chalo' (March to Delhi), Banerjee said it should be raised once again to “re-establish humanity”.

(with agency inputs)