‘If voters' names are removed like in Bihar, we'll take fight to Delhi, gherao ECI office': Mamata Banerjee at July 21 rally
She was addressing a rally at Kolkata's Esplanade East to mark Shaheed Diwas.
Banerjee threatened to take the agitation to Delhi if, like in Bihar, voters' names are removed from electoral rolls in Bengal.
'I respect the EC Chair. But in Bihar, over 40 lakh names have been removed from the voters' list. They (Election Commission of India) are planning a similar move in Bengal. I'm saying it clearly — we will not allow that. We will take the fight to Delhi. If needed, we will gherao the Commission's office,' Banerjee said.
Referring to what she called a conspiracy against Bengali, the Bengal Chief Minister said, 'Bangla bhashar upor sontras cholchhe (there is a reign of terror on the Bengali language). Over 1,000 people have been detained and jailed in BJP-ruled states including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh… Whoever speaks Bengali is being detained in BJP-ruled states.'
She also showed purported detention camp notifications to the crowd at the rally.
'Remember, Bengal took part in the freedom struggle. If people are jailed for speaking in Bengali, we will protest. I don't abandon a fight midway. Remember Nandigram, remember Singur. BJP must be removed from power at the Centre,' she said.
Banerjee also targeted Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. 'You can't control Assam but you're poking your nose into Bengal. If you continue this, I would ask Susmita Dev (TMC Rajya Sabha MP) to start a movement in Assam. We will all go there,' she said.
Announcing the party's protest schedule, Banerjee said, 'From July 27, we will hit the streets. Every Saturday and Sunday, we will protest in Bengal. I urge our MPs to demonstrate at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Delhi. Intellectuals and sports personalities will also take part.'
'We have over 22 lakh Bengali migrants outside Bengal. And around 1.5 crore migrants work in Bengal. We love Hindi, we love Gujarati. But why are you (BJP) conspiring against the Bengali language?' she asked.
Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal.
Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur.
He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
Ravik Bhattacharya is the Chief of Bureau of The Indian Express, Kolkata. Over 20 years of experience in the media industry and covered politics, crime, major incidents and issues, apart from investigative stories in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Andaman Nicobar islands. Ravik won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 for political reporting.
Ravik holds a bachelor degree with English Hons from Scottish Church College under Calcutta University and a PG diploma in mass communication from Jadavpur University. Ravik started his career with The Asian Age and then moved to The Statesman, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. ... Read More
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