Mamata Banerjee Leads Kolkata March Against SIR, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari Labels It ‘Rally Of Jamat’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (4 November) led a massive protest march in Kolkata against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of conducting a “silent, invisible rigging,” reported India Today.

Mamata, carrying a copy of the Constitution, walked from BR Ambedkar’s statue on Red Road to Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore. Thousands of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers and supporters joined her and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, waving flags and shouting slogans condemning the SIR process.

Wearing her trademark white saree and slippers, Banerjee led the 3.8-km procession, greeting onlookers as crowds lined balconies and streets. Abhishek Banerjee followed with senior ministers and party leaders.

The TMC has blamed the SIR and fear over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for three recent deaths in Bengal—two men who allegedly died by suicide and a woman who reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack due to stress over the verification process.

The BJP dismissed the rally as divisive. Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari called it a “rally of Jamat,” claiming it violated “the ethos of the Indian Constitution.” State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya added, “If Mamata ji has to say something, then she needs to knock the doors of the Supreme Court. There is total anarchy and a total absence of law and order in West Bengal.” He further alleged that Banerjee was “calling Rohingyas into the state” to influence the voters’ list.

The SIR, conducted after two decades, aims to remove duplicate, deceased, migrated, or illegal voters. Opposition parties, however, argue that it targets marginalised groups, with the first phase in Bihar leading to 68 lakh deletions.

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