Former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee seems to have sensed an opportunity to inject momentum into her politics against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), capitalising on the controversy over the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its chief Gyanesh Kumar.
She and her party have lost relevance. “Banerjee has lost her legitimacy. Banerjee, who now heads the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress action after a split in the party, has demanded the arrest of Kumar and fresh polls in West Bengal based on pre-SIR electoral data. “Beware – the revolution is coming! Everyone is going to hit the streets till we reclaim our democracy from the clutches of this Chor,” TMC MP Mahua Moitra wrote on X. “The rally was already scheduled and the Calcutta high court has given the permission. The ECI controversy is likely to be the focal point of her address that day. “Banerjee’s party is past now. It doesn’t matter what she (Banerjee) is saying. Now she is demanding the arrest of the CEC. When she was in power, she did the same thing in the panchayat and civic elections – abuse the power of the state machinery to silence the opposition. Everyone has seen the level of corruption which had crept in the party.
Senior leaders of her party said workers were likely to hit the streets soon to protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is expected to give an outline on how the battle would be fought in the coming days,” said a senior leader of the Mamata Banerjee faction. She is just trying to stay afloat,” Samik Bhattacharya, told the media. Even if she hit the streets, I don’t think that she would be able to get a second wind,” said Biswanath Chakraborty, political analyst.
She earlier demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister.
Opposition leaders, including Banerjee, accused the ECI of attempting to hijack the electoral process and putting democracy under threat. “There should be a fresh mass movement . . .Protest will continue till he (Kumar) is on the CEC’s chair. The INDIA-bloc members and other regional parties will fight this battle together.
It has already come,” Banerjee said in the 17-minute video clip.
I had said that a storm would come. A national political row erupted on Wednesday after an Indian Express news report said that two of the three poll commissioners objected to decisions made on the contentious Special Intensive Regulation (SIR) process.
