West Bengal: Abishek Banerjee asks TMC workers to use "full might" for polls, calls BJP "Bangla-birodhi"

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 24 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday called on party workers to put up a determined "fight" against the "Bangla-birodhi" (one who opposes Bangla) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in West Bengal.
Giving a clarion call to contest the upcoming assembly elections, Abhishek Banerjee said the party will form a booth-wise "Vote Raksha Committee" to ensure voter protection and effective participation in the upcoming assembly elections
Addressing a virtual conference, the TMC leader said, "In November, I told you the fight is for six months. Three months have passed, we have three more months, 100 days. For SIR, we have 22 odd days. We have to use our full might these days. We will form a booth-wise Vote Raksha Committee. If you don't do your duty Party won't stand by you. Those who believe in 'dhire cholo' (going slow), I want to tell them to wake up from their sleep."
Hitting out at the Election Commission and the BJP over the SIR exercise, he alleged, "Due to unplanned SIR, 126 people have died till now. We fought legally against SIR. Our 10-member delegation, including me, went to Delhi to meet the full bench of ECI. CEC Gyanesh was present, but they didn't givea proper answer to our queries."
Further, he criticised the ECI for flagging the names under the 'logical discrepancies' category.
"There were 1.36 crore cases of logical discrepancy. Those who brought laurels for the country and Bengal, including Amartya Sen, Md Shami, and Netaji's kin, were not spared. They didn't allow our BLA2 in the hearing. All other parties accepted the WhatsApp diktat, but we did not. Elections are not fought on WhatsApp. We resisted and said BLA 2 will be there," he said.
After the Supreme Court issued directions to the Election Commission over 'logical discrepancies' category, the poll body has asked the West Bengal CEO that the names of the persons, logical discrepancies category and also under the category of 'unmapped', to be displayed at the Gram Panchayat Bhawans, public places in every Taluka, and Block Office of every Taluka (Sub-Division), as well as in the Ward Offices in the cities of the urban areas by January 24.
He accused the BJP of deleting voters' names from the roll using Form 7.
He said, "We call BJP Bangla-Birodhi... We have caught them in connection with Form 7. They did the same in Haryana and Maharashtra. In Bankura, our workers caught them and resisted. This is a criminal offence and invites a jail for seven years. You can't give more than 10 forms, but the BJP members are carrying forms in bulk. That's why we are saying 'Jotoi Koro hamla Abar Jitbe Bangla' (no matter how many attacks, this time Bengal will win)."
"District Election Officers (DEOs) are asked by micro observers to give their login credentials. They are giving this diktat via VC. We will take it up legally," he added.
On January 19, TMC and BJP supporters clashed outside the Lalbagh SDO Office over the submission of Form 7 in Murshidabad. The BJP alleged that TMC MLA Asit Majumdar tore Form 7s at the SDO office, while Majumdar refuted the allegations.
Hearings on these claims and objections for the SIR exercise will continue up to February 7, 2026. The Final electoral roll for West Bengal will be published on February 14, 2026.
Politics in West Bengal has heated up in the run-up to the Legislative Assembly elections, where the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government is looking to defend itself against the BJP. (ANI)