October 28, 2025
If a single genuine voter’s name is removed, one lakh people will gherao the ECI’s office in Delhi: Abhishek Banerjee
Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee addressed the media today at Trinamool Bhavan. Here are some important excerpts from Abhishek Banerjee’s remarks at Trinamool Bhavan:
We saw yesterday how the BJP’s affiliated body, the Election Commission of India, has announced SIR in Bengal. And during this festival season, where it is Chhath Puja today, they said from today itself SIR will start. The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar did a press conference on how the SIR will be conducted. Our party’s stand on this has always been clear, that SIR’s intention is not really a revision but an exclusion on how to remove voters from the voter list and take away their rights, and deprive people of their fundamental rights is their only aim
We are standing at a place where the condition of the country is such that earlier, people used to vote and decide who will govern the country, but now the government decides who will be able to vote. The Central government is choosing who will be able to vote, who will be in the list, and who won’t
Their aim is not to make the list error-free, because if that was the aim, then this is the same voter list on which the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were held, where including Bengal, 543 MPs were elected and consequently the Central government and the PM as well. If this voter list is indeed full of errors, then the first duty of the Central government would have been to dissolve the Lok Sabha and conduct elections again. We are not running away
If this voter list is full of errors, then I have also been elected through the same, the PM and all the Central govt ministers; Home Minister, Finance Minister, Defence Minister, everyone. They should all give in their resignations and then conduct SIR. No one is stopping you
In 2002, the SIR that was conducted, which they are using as a benchmark, took two years. Now they wish to do the same in two months, which the ECI has decided, and not just in Bengal, in 12 States/UTs together
But you might have seen yesterday, the 5 States in which there are elections next year in April, which includes Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Puducherry, of which Assam has been left out, and that is the only State in which BJP is ruling. Then where BJP is ruling, where there are elections in 2026, there won’t be an SIR? But it will happen in Bengal! They have said that in Assam, CAA has been implemented, so it [SIR] wouldn’t happen there. So why do you spin so many stories on One Nation, One Constitution, One Election?
In which rule of the ECI does it say that during voter list revision, it will be done in one State but not the other? Under whose influence are the CEC and ECI working? Why are they so obsessed with Bengal? Why will there be no SIR in Assam? They have not been able to give a satisfactory answer to that. There were many media personnel present yesterday who questioned a lot, I salute them. Gradually, our media is also changing. The questions they [media] posed, they [ECI] could not answer a single question well
You say that in Bengal some voters are invalid citizens; there are Bangladeshis, Rohingyas. I want to show you a map of India. [Shows Indian Political Map]
Here is a red border; on one side is Pakistan, on one is Myanmar, upwards there is Bhutan and Nepal, and to the east there is Bangladesh. Now let us zoom into the northeast region of India which borders Bangladesh and Myanmar. See, the yellow map in the middle is Bangladesh. On that, on one side there is Bengal, on another there is Meghalaya, on one there is Assam, on one Tripura and Mizoram. So Bangladesh shares its border with 5 States. But SIR is happening only in Bengal, the rest are exempt
15 days ago in Tripura, 21 Bangladeshis were caught. Have you [media] not reported? Have the media personnel not reported that in August-September, Rohingyas were caught in Assam? Let me reiterate: Bangladesh borders 5 States but SIR is being carried out in Bengal only
Look at Myanmar’s borders; there are 4 bordering States. People who come from Myanmar are called Rohingyas. And BJP netas say that there are 1 crore Rohingyas in Bengal. Bengal doesn’t even share a border with Myanmar, I am showing you on the map. The States which do border it are Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. So if there are Rohingyas in India, they will have entry through either of these 4 States. So my question is, what is the intention of the ECI?
If you say that the aim is to stop illegal infiltration, then you must stop them at the border, that’s where the process must start. If a Rohingya has to come to Bengal, then they will also get there through either of the 4 States. Then why are these States exempt from SIR? That’s my question. Their intention is only one: to insult Bengal, to label Bengalis as Bangladeshis, to mock the Bengali language, and since they have lost poorly in 2021 and gone down from 18 to 12 seats in 2024, they want to deprive us of our fundamental rights. We will not let that happen
I have said this before and I say this again. If a single genuine voter’s name is removed, 1 lakh people will gherao the ECI’s office in Delhi. If you have the guts, Amit Shah’s Delhi police should try and stop us
Yesterday, you must have seen the Supreme Court’s order. The High Court slapped them on one cheek and the Supreme Court on the other. I used to say during Nabo Jowar that in front of the people’s will, everything else is unmatched, whoever that may be
We had gone to Delhi to ask for Bengal’s rightful dues, but they dragged and threw us out of Krishi Bhavan. Who? Amit Shah’s Delhi police. Even the SC, ST, and Tapasili representatives, even women were dragged by their hair, Birbaha Hansda was thrown out. Leaders like Dola Sen, Mahua Moitra, and others were also present there
We had said that either we will take this fight to Delhi and explain to the Zamindars the power of Bengal or we will arrange for the funds ourselves. Our govt sent money through direct bank transfer to 69 lakh job-card holders whose money was pending in February 2024. Today marks almost four years since the money was stalled. Almost Rs 50,000 crore to Bengal under the MGNREGA is pending. Money for roads, Grameen Sadak Yojana, AWAS, Jal Jeevan Mission, Sarva Shiksha Mission is stalled. This is how they wish to torture Bengal and Bengalis
If you want to do SIR, why did you not do it after the 2023 PRI election? There was a year in between 2023 panchayat and 2024 Lok Sabha
BJP is saying that if SIR is conducted, AITC’s vote bank will be eradicated. Trinamool will lose. Write down today’s date, I am saying this in front of 50+ cameras; if BJP has the guts, they will accept this challenge. Do SIR, but I challenge them that if a single genuine voter is removed, Delhi will witness Bengal’s might. October 2023 was the trailer, but you will see the full cinema in the coming days. Bengal, Gujarat, and MP are not the same
I give them many challenges. I had challenged them before regarding unpaid dues. I had asked them to select the channel, the spokesperson, the time, and I will come. But no one accepted. PM had said at a public meeting that ‘we have given so much money to Bengal Awas Yojana’ and I asked him to provide proof. To select a place and come bearing proof, he did not. I challenge them again today
When CM Mamata Banerjee gives Kanyashree, Lakshmir Bhandar, does she do that looking at the vote bank? Or when she constructs roads? When she gives 12 lakh people money for houses from the State’s coffers such that common men and women do not have to pay 10 paise more, did she do that based on vote bank politics? Can they show that?
Today, I tell them again, that even if by one seat, we will increase our seats in 2026; there is no space for losing. And BJP will decrease to 50. If you have the guts, accept the challenge. And if the seats percentage increases even after SIR, use whatever means you have at your disposal. You did it previously as well, you stopped 100 days’ work funds. Did you succeed? We will by any means get the money. Legally we will fight. Contempt will be filed if you violate the guidelines of the court. And political fight will continue too
And if after SIR you lose, then BJP leaders should sign an undertaking or keep media personnel as witnesses and say that ‘if we lose in 2026 and Trinamool’s seat share increases even by one, we will release Rs 2 lakh crore unpaid dues within a week.’ Or I will do whatever you say. This is my open challenge to the BJP!
You project yourselves as the protectors of Hindus. Today, a man has died in Khardaha, named Pradeep Kar. How many BJP leaders have asked? And they say that Mamata Banerjee does vote bank politics? The first people to go to their house and lend a hand of support were from Trinamool
In Regent Colony, Netaji Nagar, two people have died. I contacted their family [of Pradeep Kar] and learnt that after it was announced yesterday, the man locked his door and took his own life. And in his suicide note, he said that SIR and NRC are the cause of his death. How much blood do you want on your hands? They have so much pride they don’t care about other people’s lives. Almost 700 people died due to the Farm Bills, have they taken notice? So many have committed suicide due to NRC, today they’re doing it because of SIR. You started this game, we will finish it
It has been 11 years since the Modi govt came to power. How many representatives from Bengal [18 in 2019 and 12 in 2024] have even written a letter to say that the poor are dependent on the 100 days’ work for their livelihoods? That 2.58 crore people need this? Have they ever approached the PM, or the related department authorities, or any minister to stop this deprivation of Bengal? People who are elected from Bengal’s people? They have no shame
They are slyly freezing the administration also. We are supposed to be in govt till 2026, and then by doing SIR now they are taking away the next 7 months. In Lok Sabha they took away 6 months. 13 months gone, so when is the government supposed to work?
They are releasing water whenever they want. Asking the Chief Secretary to come. This started in 2021 when Alapan Bandopadhyay was the Chief Secretary then. Within 10 days they show-caused him. In the name of post-poll violence dragging Bengal’s name through the dirt in front of the whole country
In Sandeshkhali, they framed a lie and paying women money to sign on blank papers. You have all seen the video. They should all apologise to Bengal. Where BJP’s spokesperson is admitting to their misdeed. Women are saying that they don’t know; they just signed because they were asked to. They are stalling thousands of crores in the name of GST, Central schemes. Not allowing Mamata Banerjee to speak at the July 2024 NITI Aayog meeting, stopping her mic. Is this not an insult to Bengal?
The BJP leader who said that there is no language such as Bengali is still retained in his position. The BJP CM who said that whoever is speaking in Bengali should be arrested, in that State itself SIR is not being conducted. That is his reward. That is why we call BJP Bangla Birodhi
At Nabo Jowar many people had told me that going to Delhi will be of no use. I said that results come later, but there should be no effort left in trying. We were beaten, we arranged for alternative sources for funds. Yesterday’s victory is for the 2.58 crore job-card holders
The North Bengal seats where they have won, have they asked once after the floods? During elections they travel there daily: they come in the morning, stay in 5-star hotels, have good food, insult Bengal and go in the evening. Where are they when Bengal needs them? Mamata Banerjee has gone twice in 7 days. She stayed there for a week and made arrangements for a parallel bridge within 15 days
Current or past BJP MPs from Bengal; are their parents included in the lists before 2002? Amit Shah and Gyanesh Kumar are responsible for Pradeep Kar’s death. There should be FIRs against them. They give long speeches. They run from elections, we don’t. In Bengal there are two bypolls pending, why did you not conduct those with Bihar? Because you know you will lose terribly. From 2024 till present there have been 12 bypolls and we have won all. From 303, you were reduced to 240, and next election you will come down to 100
After losing in 2021, they are using the decision-making bodies, Central agencies, from the back door to control Bengal. Now similarly, they are using SIR to introduce a backdoor NRC.
I don’t know when Gyanesh Kumar has come to Bengal. I welcome him to come, but don’t confuse it with Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Read history; Bengal renaissance, the independence movement, the contribution of Bengali revolutionaries. If this land didn’t exist you wouldn’t be able to write your own name or speak. And this land will not bend to the will of zamindars like you
The way ECI is acting like an agency of BJP, I am warning them, as a parliamentarian, that sooner or later the government will change. BJP and Amit Shah won’t stay but the Constitution will
