'You have to exclude names in SIR over my body': Mamata Banerjee takes guard as new 'chowkidar'

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister once again raised her voice on Wednesday against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the Election Commission and the harassment of migrant workers in other states.

On Wednesday, the supremo of the ruling TMC conducted the 'Language Movement' march in Jhargram. At the end of the march, she attacked the SIR process and said, "If you want to omit any name by conducting SIR, you will have to do so over my body. We (her party) will stand guard."

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Mamata Banerjee and other TMC leaders had earlier alleged that the central government is conducting the NRC under the guise of SIR. She reiterated that claim on Wednesday and said that she won't accept NRC at any cost and alleged that the Centre is conspiring to omit the names of the voters from the list.

Regarding the notice of the Assam government to some residents of Bengal, Mamata said, "That is illegal, anti-democratic, unconstitutional. The Assam government cannot send this notice." The Chief Minister has also forbidden people from going if they receive such a letter in the future.

Mamata Banerjee once again slammed the BJP over the 'Bengali-Bangladeshi' issue and said, "Today, if you speak in Bengali, you are being taken to jail. You are being called a Bangladeshi." She told the common people to say "Joy Bangla" whenever someone calls them 'Bangladeshi'.

She further said, "Today, whenever someone is speaking in Bengali, that person is being called a Bangladeshi or Rohingya. In which language did the great minds of Bengal, from Rabindranath Tagore to Swami Vivekananda, speak?" Mamata added, "If Swamiji were alive today, he would say, 'I didn't want this country."

Mamata Banerjee then indirectly urged the common people to vote for TMC and said, "Now is the time to protest. We won't say to vote for TMC. However, if we don't protest, they will build more detention camps like in Assam."

The Chief Minister said, "What are they saying this time? Names have to be included in the voters' list anew. Remember, in Assam, the names of lakhs of people were omitted. Will the BJP prepare a list? You have to fix your address. Make sure that not a single voter's name is omitted." She further said that there won't be any NRC in Bengal, and she and her party won't concede an inch without a fight.

In the end, Mamata said, "You can remove me only when I feel like it. The day I don't feel like it, your people will also vote for me. Because they also want a shelter, an address. Keep this in mind."