Mamata calls Shah 'dangerous', warns of dharna over SIR voter deletions

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday called Union Home Minister Amit Shah "dangerous", and warned that she would sit on a dharna if even a single eligible voter's name was struck off from the list during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Launching a blistering attack on Shah, the chief minister said at a rally in Krishnanagar in Nadia district, "The country's home minister is dangerous. You can see it in his eyes it's terrifying. In one eye, you see 'Duryodhan', and in the other, 'Dushasan'."  Alleging that the SIR was being used as a political weapon ahead of the 2026 assembly polls, Banerjee said, "If even a single eligible voter's name is struck off, I will sit on a dharna. There will be no detention camps in West Bengal. They are so hungry for votes that they are conducting the SIR just two months before elections."  Banerjee said that she herself had not filled out her enumeration form so far.

"Do I now need to prove my citizenship to a party of rioters?" she said, in an apparent reference to BJP.

Accusing the Centre of targeting Bengalis, Banerjee said, "We have a (Union) home minister who can do anything to label all Bengalis as Bangladeshis and send them to detention camps. But we will not allow anyone to be driven out of West Bengal. We know very well how to bring someone back if they are forced out."  The chief minister further alleged that the Election Commission was deploying officers aligned with the BJP to influence the process.

"Some BJP-backed people are being sent from Delhi to keep an eye on things in West Bengal. They are overseeing the work of district magistrates during SIR hearings," she claimed.