As West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday targeted the BJP over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, alleging it was an attempt to unsettle voters and “capture West Bengal by trickery”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised BJP MPs from the state to refrain from making strong statements on the issue and present it as a “routine administrative process”, sources said.
“At a 45-minute interaction with MPs from West Bengal in his office in Parliament, the Prime Minister said we should communicate that the SIR drive is a simple, routine administrative process to correct the electoral rolls, to ensure eligible voters are included, while those who are ineligible should be deleted. He asked us not to brag about the numbers, saying so many have been deleted, so many will be removed. We should keep ourselves away from giving out any numbers,” said an MP who attended the meeting.
“The PM sounded convinced that the right way of communicating could alla fears, apprehensions about the SIR exercise, if any,” said a source, adding that Modi asked the MPs to counter the TMC government’s narrative that SIR would lead to the exclusion of voters.
“The Prime Minister told us to keep fighting the West Bengal government to save democracy. We will remove this government. The PM told us we have to win these elections and we will win the elections,” Union Minister and former state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar told reporters after the meeting.
Modi’s message comes at a time when SIR has become a political flashpoint in West Bengal, months before the Assembly elections, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleging that the real intention behind the exercise is implementing the National Register for Citizens (NRC) and excluding genuine voters from the list. The BJP, in turn, has accused the state government of shielding “illegal infiltrators”. Last week, Union MoS and Bangaon MP Shantanu Thakur had kicked up a storm by claiming that once SIR happens, “there will be arrests, and then (people will be sent) straight to detention.” On Tuesday, Mamata responded by saying her government would not set up any “detention camps” in the state.
The Indian Express reported last month that concerns about SIR had led to a surge of people trying to cross over to Bangladesh, with a senior BSF officer calling it “reverse exodus”.However, a bigger concern for the BJP is the TMC’s attempt to gain political advantage from concerns about SIR among the Scheduled Caste (SC) Matua community in West Bengal, a crucial vote bank for the party.
Over the decades, thousands of Matuas have migrated to West Bengal from Bangladesh, most without proper documentation. With the BJP promising to expedite their citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Matuas, who have a sizeable presence in at least 30 of the state’s 294 Assembly seats, backed it in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, helping it win 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats — the party’s best performance in parliamentary elections to date.
For the BJP, the path to power in Bengal lies in stitching together a pan-Hindu support base with Matuas at its core and, thus, it is keen on thwarting the TMC’s attempts to exploit Matua concerns about SIR. The All India Matua Mahasangha, led by Shantanu Thakur, has been organising camps to grant community members identity documents to allay their concerns about SIR.
PM seeks feedback
Among the MPs from Bengal who met the PM on Wednesday with Khagen Murmu, the Malda Uttar MP, who was attacked by a mob in October. The MPs who attended the meeting said Modi also sought feedback and suggestions from them, asking them about their activities at the booth level, interaction with beneficiaries of the Centre’s welfare schemes, and their approach to the different issues raised by local workers, sources said.
“The meetings with the Prime Minister have always been inspirational and energising. He has encouraged us to continue the positive work with renewed vigour and to take further steps towards reaching out to every individual across the state,” Darjeeling MP Raju Bista wrote on X.
“We also discussed the recent landslides and floods in our Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars region and the WB Government’s refusal to officially notify it as a ‘disaster’, and non-allocation of SDRF funds towards disaster rehabilitation. Further, we discussed the severe challenges faced by the tea garden and cinchona garden workers, and possible ways to address them,” Bista said.
Since winning Bihar in a landslide victory last month, the BJP has shifted its focus to the states going to polls next year, with West Bengal viewed as one of the big challenges. The party has organisationally struggled in the state despite emerging as the primary Opposition five years ago. In the TMC, it faces a formidable opponent that has successfully channelled identity politics along with a social welfare pitch to counter the BJP’s Hindutva plus development message.