"TMC protecting infiltrators": Suvendu Adhikari slams Mamata Banerjee over protest announcement on SIR

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 4 (ANI): The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday responded to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee's announcement of a mega protest in Delhi against the SIR, accusing the party of "insulting Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution" and urged the Election Commission to intervene.
He further alleged that they are "protecting illegal infiltrators by assembling Bangladeshi Muslims, Rohingyas".
Hitting out at the ruling TMC, Adhikari said, "Please go there. No problem. Earlier, they went there, and everybody saw what happened. Now we are waiting, please go. When they leave Bengal, Bengal will be safe."
Adhikari further alleged, "They (TMC) are insulting Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution; the Election Commission should act on it. They are protecting illegal infiltrators by assembling Bangladeshi Muslims, the Rohingyas. When CAA came, they did the same thing in the name of NRC; this time, they are doing the same thing with SIR, and as a result, they are disturbing the law and order of Bengal and creating fear among Hindus."
Earlier today, Trinamool Congress national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee said that the party will take the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) fight to Delhi if even a single eligible voter is removed from Bengal's rolls, accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of India of acting in tandem to deprive the state of its identity.
"From the very start we have said that even if a single eligible voter is removed from the list, AITC will take this fight to Delhi; those who act as puppets of the central government to deprive Bengal of its identity and label us Bangladeshis for speaking Bangla will be challenged all the way to the capital," Banerjee said while addressing a press conference.
He questioned whether those who died following the announcement of the SIR were considered "valid or invalid voters."
"My question to the BJP and to their friends in the ECI is simple: the 5-6 people who have already died--were they valid or invalid voters?" he asked.
Banerjee urged people "not to fall prey to Citizenship (Amendment) Act camps" warning they risked the "same fate as Assam's victims" sent to detention centres, adding party workers and representatives would be deployed statewide to assist citizens.
The ECI will conduct the second phase of SIR of electoral rolls across 12 States and Union Territories, with the final voter list to be published on February 7, 2026. The first phase of SIR was completed in Bihar before the assembly polls.
SIR 2.0 exercise will cover the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. (ANI)