Mamata pitches Assembly polls asbattle of identity, says Delhi next

PTI, March 30, 2026, Debra/Belda: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday raised the issues of Bengali identity, SIR of electoral rolls and the TMC's national ambitions during her poll campaign, and declared that after winning the elections next month, her party will work towards "capturing Delhi".

Addressing a rally at Debra in Paschim Medinipur, a politically significant belt where the BJP had made deep inroads in 2021 before the TMC clawed back ground in the Lok Sabha polls, Mamata framed the election not merely as a contest for power in Bengal, but as a fight against what she described as the BJP's attempt to control the state politically, culturally and electorally.

"After winning in West Bengal, we will unite everyone across the country to capture Delhi," the TMC supremo said, in remarks that underlined her effort to position herself as one of the principal anti-BJP voices nationally even while fighting a high-stakes battle at home.

At the heart of the TMC supremo's attack was the allegation that the Centre and the Election Commission were working in tandem to weaken the state government and manipulate the electoral process.

"The landlords of Delhi have taken away all powers from my hands," she said, using a phrase aimed at reinforcing the TMC's long-standing political narrative of Bengal versus Delhi.

Mamata repeatedly accused the BJP of being "anti-Bengal" and sought to convert resentment over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls into a political issue.

"You have made people stand in queues. You have humiliated them. The people will take revenge for this humiliation through the ballot box," she said, in a line clearly aimed at turning alleged voter-list irregularities into a wider anti-BJP sentiment among ordinary voters.

With the Opposition and the ruling party locked in a bitter fight over alleged deletion of names from the voters' list, Mamata claimed that lakhs of genuine voters, particularly women and "Bengali-speaking people", had been removed.

"Many names have been deleted. Check online and apply. I will ask (Debra TMC nominee) Rajib Banerjee to look into it. We will provide lawyers," she said.

"There are still 60 lakh names under logistical discrepancies. Even if 50 per cent of those names have been restored, the credit goes to our legal battle. I myself went to the Supreme Court and fought," the CM added.

Mamata on Monday also accused the BJP of stoking fights among all sections of society and claimed the saffron party wants to loot the country by taking advantage of such situations.

Addressing a poll rally at Belda, the Chief Minister expressed strong reservations about Union Home Minister Amit Shah's political 'charge sheet' against the TMC government.

"The first charge sheet should be filed against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah, who came to power by stoking riots," she said.

"The BJP is stoking fights among all sections of society. It wants to loot the country by taking advantage of the situation evolving from such strife," she alleged while addressing the rally in Paschim Medinipur district.

Mamata accused the BJP of trying to divide all — from Hindu and Muslims to the administrative and police services.

Several government officers, including members of the civil service, who "used to work brilliantly", are now humiliated, she said.