Kolkata, 6 August (H.S.) – West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a rally in Jhargram, accusing the poll body of acting as a “servant of the BJP” and plotting to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state under the guise of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Banerjee strongly objected to the ECI’s directive to suspend four state officials — two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) — and to register FIRs against them. Challenging the commission’s authority, she declared, “I will not suspend any officer,” and questioned, “Under what authority have these four state officials been suspended?”

The Chief Minister accused the BJP of attacking Bengal’s language and culture, alleging that migrant workers from Bengal were being arrested and mistreated in BJP-ruled states after being labelled as “Bangladeshis.” Calling for a renewed “language movement,” she led a rally in Jhargram and urged people to unite in defence of their language and identity.

Banerjee alleged that the BJP was using the Election Commission to secure power and that the SIR process was being misused to remove names from Bengal’s electoral rolls. She vowed, “No one’s name will be deleted from the voters’ list.”

Reassuring state government employees and officials, Banerjee said, “It is my responsibility to protect government officials. We will ensure the safety of our employees and officers under all circumstances.” She claimed that the Election Commission and the BJP were trying to intimidate state officials, employees, and police, but asserted that their attempts would fail.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh