Abhishek hits out at voter list purge at Esplanade dharna
By KUNAL CHATTERJEE
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress general secretary, took the stage at today's Dharna Manch in Kolkata's Esplanade to rally supporters against voter list deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the sit-in protest from 2 PM, he slammed the Election Commission and BJP for what he called a targeted attack on Bengal's voters.
Banerjee highlighted heartbreaking cases, like seven people who died by suicide after their names—already on voter rolls—were wrongly removed, labeling them "Bangladeshis" despite proof.
He accused the process of meeting secret deletion targets, disenfranchising genuine voters ahead of 2026 assembly polls, including 243 alive people marked dead who contacted him personally.
"This isn't cleaning lists; it's killing democracy," he said, vowing TMC helpdesks in every ward to fight back.
Drawing from past wins, like reclaiming 100-day work funds via Supreme Court after Delhi's denial, Banerjee urged 10 crore Bengalis to stand firm. He reassured Matua and Rajbanshi communities, no deportations on TMC watch, blasting BJP's fake citizenship camps that trap people like Assam's 12 lakh Hindus.
"BJP lost here in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024—they'll be zero in 2026," he predicted, calling for a Delhi march to show Bengal's might.
Banerjee invoked history, from 21 July 1971 sacrifices to Mamata's 2019 NRC stand, stressing Bengal bows only to its people, not Delhi "zamindars.".
He listed central fund cuts—MGNREGA, PM Awas, Jal Jeevan—as punishments for rejecting BJP.
Ending with "Jai Bangla," he rallied the massive crowd: "Unity in diversity is our strength; we'll bury their anti-Bengal game."
The Esplanade dharna, echoing Mamata's 2006 protests, signals TMC's all-out war on perceived electoral foul play, energising cadres for polls.
