Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, claimed on Thursday that some people were preparing to cause disruption in an effort to split West Bengal into two states.
The chief minister was presiding over an administrative meeting in Ranaghat in the Nadia district when he declared that the unrest was being stoked in order to divide the state into north and south Bengal without specifying any specific group or political party.
“Keep a strict vigil in communally sensitive areas in the state as some people are planning to incite communal flare-ups from December. You (TMC leaders) have to stop them. It is a challenge for us,”
The CM had previously informed her ministerial colleagues in a cabinet meeting that some individuals were attempting to sow discord in several regions of the state.
She told the officials that checking at nakas (check-points) should be tightened to keep a watch on the movement of such vehicles after alleging that “VIPs” were using their automobiles to smuggle weapons and cash to other parts of the state.
She also made reference to the recent racial unrest in Kolkata’s Mominpur district, saying that “many VIPs transport weaponry and money in their automobiles with tinted glasses.”
Additionally, the Chief Minister gave the appropriate representatives instructions to update the voter lists to include everyone who has turned 18 and to make sure that no one is left off because to their identification with a particular religion.
She asserts that there is a plan to omit the approximately 30% of the electorate who reside in various state boundary areas from the revised voter list. I request that the representatives give me a list of everyone who satisfies the Election Commission’s qualifications. They must include everyone who is at least 18 years old.
She also gave the district magistrates and police superintendents (SPs) instructions to monitor the creation of new voter lists and make sure nothing illegal occurs.
The DMs and SPs must conduct surprise visits to the camps where voter lists are being generated in order to keep an eye on them, she commanded.
The MLAs and zilla parishad members must also monitor the procedure. Officials occasionally show up in the afternoon after lunch, which prevents people from updating their names on the list. It’s a serious job, this.
She said that the right to vote is a fundamental one that cannot be taken away from any citizen of this nation.
West Bengal has 7,42,88,233 registered voters, which is 12,577 fewer than it did a year ago, according to a draught election roster published on Wednesday.
In order to make it easier for citizens to access the service, she also encouraged officials to set up booths for updating voter lists at the ongoing “Duare Sarkar” (government at doorsteps) camps.
Banerjee had warned her party leaders to exercise caution when the updating of electoral rolls begins this week after accusing the BJP of attempting to delete legitimate voters from the voter lists.
In the meantime, BJP supporters in Ranaghat protested the absence of any saffron party representatives from the administrative meeting Banerjee presided over, including Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar.
The chief minister was there at the location where BJP activists staged a rally and attempted to make their way there. However, the procession was stopped by the police, which resulted in an altercation between the two sides.