By Arun Srivastava
While a popular movement against the mass deletion of voter names with the slogan “Apnar vote, jader naam kata gache tader janya” ( your vote for those whose names have been deleted) launched at the call of Mamata Banerjee to “take revenge” through the ballot, has been gaining momentum across the state, under the aegis of Votadhikar Rokha manch, especially in the middle class urban settings, Amit Shah has sounded an ill-temperate threat to Mamata; “Ei Didi, kaan khol kar sun lo… Bangal Bharat Me Hai” (Ei Didi, listen carefully, Bengal is in India).
This caution was indeed personification of his arrogance and power, for which Amit Shah is known in political circle. On April 21, Shah contemptuously using “Ei Didi” for Mamata, while campaigning in Salboni of Paschim Medinipur almost reminisced Narendra Modi’s style of humiliating Mamata. In 2021 Modi had catcalled Mamata Banerjee as “Didi O Didi” and BJP paid the price being humiliated at the election. What does Shah threatening her imply politically? Did he intend to convey that action would be taken against her.
Though Mamata did not react to Shah’s threat, her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, slammed Shah for the remark, calling it “roadside” taunt reminiscent of Narendra Modi’s 2021 “Didi O Didi” jibe, and accusing the BJP of misogyny. While humiliating her, Shah must not have imagined the intensity of hostility it would cause amongst the voters. His words have enraged the voters, specifically the women voters. Even the BJP supporters have not taken this remark casually. They took it as outraging the dignity of a woman. Shah’s remark has simply evoked sympathy for Mamata: a lone lady was fighting against the combined strength of Modi Government, Election Commission and saffron ecosystem.
One thing is absolutely clear that the BJP has miserably failed to learn lesson from their past mistakes. In 2021 the BJP, after the 2019 Lok Sabha victory, was set to sweep the assembly election, but this single cat-call torpedoed its chances. Shah insulting Mamata will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. BJP has sealed its own fate with its own words, spoken in its own voice, on camera, for all of Bengal to see and remember.
Around 91 lakh names have been deleted from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. State’s total electorate has shrunk by 12%; from 7.66 crore electors in October 2025 to 6.75 crore, far below the 7.34 crore in 2021. Only a couple of days back, in an apparent reference to Amit Shah, Mamata had alleged that he was behind the deletion of voters’ names in West Bengal during the SIR exercise. “If you have the guts, fight directly,” she said. Shah’s threat in fact is being viewed as a retaliation to Mamata’s challenge.
Every night he holds the meetings of the core committee in his hotel room at Salt Lake. He conducts high-level security and political review often late in the night. At the meet Shah directs the leaders to adopt an aggressive, centralized strategy in West Bengal, characterized by high-profile campaigning, intense scrutiny of TMC governance, and a focus on issues like national security, to combat perceived erosion of ground-level support and reverse electoral setbacks.
On her part, Mamata is also taking extra guard. She has asked TMC workers to be on guard during the poll period, Banerjee said, “I hope none of our booth agents will sell themselves off to the BJP, in the interest of West Bengal.” Apprehending that EVM machines may be made to malfunction at some places, she instructed party workers not to allow EC officials to repair the machines and instead demand replacements. Nonetheless the TMC leaders hold that if the judicial process has adopted a humane and rationale approach the massive number of 35 lakh voters would not have been the facing the threat of getting disenfranchise and losing their nationality.
Meanwhile Shah has released a “people’s chargesheet” (Janaganer Chargesheet) against the TMC, accusing the government of corruption, financial irregularities, and deterioration in law and order. He accused the TMC of protecting “infiltrators” and stated that a BJP government would seal the border and implement strict anti-infiltration policies. He also highlighted the Sandeshkhali incident, where women protested against alleged land grabs and sexual assault by local leaders, and the RG Kar Medical College case, alleging a failure of safety for women under the current regime. But he did not corroborate the allegations.
Yet another development that has caused immense dismay in TMC circle is Shah’s threat to enforce the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in state once BJP comes to power. This promise is part of the party’s election manifesto aiming for uniform civil laws across the state, including mandatory registration of marriages. This aims to appease Dalit Matuas, majority of whom could not be enrolled in the voters list due to SIR. The BJP aims to implement the UCC within six months of coming to power. UCC is part of the BJP’s broader election campaign in West Bengal for 2026, targeting to change existing personal law
With 24 hours left for the first phase polling, Shah has intensified his rhetoric against Mamata Banerjee, including direct warnings and challenging language. In order to put the TMC volunteers under siege Shah directly warned them not to engage in post-poll violence, stating, “Sab gundon, dhyan se sun lo: 5th ke baad agar kisi bhi citizen ko pareshaan kiya gaya, toh ulta latka kar seedha kar denge…” (Listen carefully all you goons: If any citizen is bothered after May 5th, I will hang you upside down to teach you a lesson…).
Shah accused Mamata of protecting “infiltrators” and warned that BJP government would “drive out every infiltrator”. In a significant revelation Shah is planning to use Samserganj model to win the election. The area in Murshidabad has 49,000 Hindu voters in a constituency with an electorate of a little over 1.6 lakh. Samserganj had witnessed worst nature of communal clash. BJP had used the clash to consolidate its hold in the area. Though Mamata had given financial help, the BJP nonetheless identified as their well-wisher. Last year’s nightmare still haunts them. This is the feel of Hindu consolidation in Samserganj. BJP leaders estimate that at least 98 per cent of the constituency’s 49,000 Hindu voters are now behind the party, by their own admission, would have been unthinkable before the riot.
While people across state are critical of SIR, the Hindus of Samserganj have nice words for it. Samserganj had 2,52,881 voters; 20 per cent Hindu, 80 per cent Muslim. Under SIR 91,616 names were removed: 16,841 in the first round as ASDD (absentee, shifted, duplicate and dead) voters, and a further 74,775 during adjudication. The constituency now has 1,61,265 eligible voters; 49,000 Hindu and 1,12,265 Muslim. The Hindu share has risen from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. (IPA Service)
