Kolkata, Oct 16 (IANS) The BJP on Thursday accused two ministers of the Mamata government of publicly threatening riots over the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which is expected to begin in West Bengal soon.
BJP national spokesman Pradeep Bhandari shared two videos on the wall of his social media handle, in which the two state ministers are giving threats. They were identified as the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Department, Tajmul Hossain, and the Minister of State for the State Irrigation and Waterways Department, Sabina Yasmin.
IANS, however, could not check the authenticity of the videos.
Both ministers are from minority-dominated districts of Malda district, and both were heard in the video threatening major trouble if the name of a single voter is deleted from the voters’ list after the SIR.
“If the Chief Minister can’t ensure law and order, should she stay in office? Bengal can’t be held hostage to TMC’s ‘Riot Raj’ for vote bank politics,” Bhandari said in his social media post.
This is not the first time that Trinamool Congress leaders have given such threats. On October 10, Trinamool Congress MP and former minister Partha Bhowmik said at a public meeting that “West Bengal will be on the boil if the name of a single genuine voter is deleted from the voters’ list after the SIR”.
He also called upon people to “chase and detain BJP leaders in different pockets of the state in case the name of a single genuine voter is deleted from the voters’ list”.
On October 9, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing the media, said that she would not tolerate the deletion of names of any particular community from the voters’ list.
“I am asking them (ECI) not to play with fire. A crisis because of a natural calamity is still prevailing in West Bengal. Houses of several people have been washed away because of the flood. In such a situation, from where will they furnish the necessary documents for the SIR? Some are on vacation because of the ongoing festive season. How will they furnish the documents?” the Chief Minister had said.
–IANS
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