August 7, 2025

KOLKATA: The political heat is rising in West Bengal as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a fiery attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday. She charged them with plotting to implement the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) under the innocent-sounding cover of ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR). Speaking at Ghatal in West Medinipur district, Mamata urged every citizen to make sure their name was listed in the electoral rolls. She declared boldly, “There is a plan going on to implement NRC in the name of SIR. There shouldn’t be a single person whose name is not there in the voters’ list. Everyone should enrol their name. If you find that names are being deleted, approach the authorities. We will help you.” Her visit to flood-affected parts of Hooghly and West Midnapore comes amid rising tensions over the SIR exercise, which involves revising electoral lists intensively. The Election Commission has instructed political parties in West Bengal to appoint booth-level agents and submit their names, preparing for the possible rollout of SIR. West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, confirmed, “On the direction of the ECI, we have written to all the political parties in the state to appoint booth level agents. We will send the list to the ECI. These steps are being taken as preparations for the SIR.” Why all this fuss? The major reason is the fear that the SIR is just a mask to bring in the NRC, which can lead to many citizens being excluded or marked “non-citizens.” Similar moves in Bihar have sparked outrage after the electoral roll was pruned by nearly 6.56 million names for reasons including deaths and shifts. Opposition parties worry this massive deletion ignores many identity documents and racism concerns have surfaced. Even the Supreme Court has sharply warned it would "step in" if there was any mass exclusion of voters in poll-bound Bihar. Mamata Banerjee was blunt: “This is entirely a planted game. The plan is the brainchild of the double-engine government with the help of the Election Commission of India. We will not accept and tolerate this. The plan is being hatched in Gujarat. It has to be foiled.” The drama is far from over, and West Bengal’s political storm adds to the nation-wide debate on the NRC and electoral rights. Who will win this fight for voter identity and citizenship? Stay tuned!

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Tags: Mamata banerjee, Nrc, Election commission, West bengal, Sir, Bjp,