Amit Shah used SIR to make ground for President’s Rule in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that the EC pushed the SIR of electoral rolls as part of  “Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s trick” to create panic, claiming that had her government blocked the exercise, the Centre would have imposed President’s Rule in the state.

Addressing a rally in Muslim-majority Murshidabad, Banerjee also said the state was “not foolish enough to walk into the trap”, urging people not to fear the enumeration exercise but to simply file their documents.

The TMC chief tore into the BJP, claiming that more than half of those who died in SIR-linked incidents across the country were Hindus, and warning the party against “cutting the very branch it is sitting on”.

“Don’t be afraid of SIR. If we hadn’t allowed it, they would have imposed President’s Rule. Do you understand Amit Shah’s trick? We will fight, we will win. They cannot starve us; they cannot take our property,” she said in the rally.

Her remarks came a day after she accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of “orchestrating” SIR to unsettle voters and “capture Bengal by trickery”, saying the hurried revision had triggered panic and “dug the BJP’s own grave”.

“The BJP is indulging in religious politics over Special Intensive Revision (SIR). More than half of those who died in SIR-related incidents were Hindus. Don’t cut the very branch you are sitting on,” she said.

The TMC supremo also reiterated that she would never allow NRC or detention camps to come up in West Bengal.

“I will not allow NRC or detention camps in Bengal. Even if they slit my throat, no one will be driven out,” she declared to loud applause.

“If anyone is removed, we will bring them back legally. Bengal will remain safe and inclusive,” she said.

Turning to the Waqf controversy swirling within the ruling party, Banerjee accused “certain groups” of spreading misinformation that land records were being listed as religious sites as mosques or graveyards.

“For days, some miscreants have been spreading lies about waqf properties. Nothing has been reclassified. Not one Waqf property will be taken away,” she said.

Clarifying that data of nearly 82,000 Waqf properties already existed on the Centre’s portal, she said, “We passed a resolution in the Assembly that Waqf properties cannot be taken forcefully. Mutawallis (custodians of Waqf property) will upload the documents and give them to the state. There is nothing to fear.”

Her comments came amid renewed heat after the state government instructed district magistrates to upload Waqf data to the Centre’s UMID portal by the December 6 deadline, a move critics say signals a climbdown from her earlier opposition to the amended Waqf Act.

The issue also gained political heft after TMC MLA Humayun Kabir, suspended on Thursday morning for proposing a Babri Masjid-style mosque in Murshidabad, accused Banerjee of “fooling Muslims” on the Waqf issue and having a “tacit understanding with the BJP-RSS”.

Banerjee simultaneously hit out at alleged central deprivation and BJP’s misinformation campaign.

“The BJP doesn’t allow the Centre to clear funds and spreads lies on social media. They use AI to circulate misinformation with my face even though it’s not me; they loot and then say jhoot,” she said.

Banerjee also accused the BJP of stoking fears over undocumented entrants without acknowledging that border control was the Centre’s responsibility.

The chief minister said she had not yet completed her own enumeration form.

“I will do it only after all your names are included. ‘May I Help You’ camps will assist people in every booth,” she said.

Warning minority voters against vote-splitting, she pointed to the Bihar Assembly polls.

“In Bihar, they put up four Independents in each seat. The BJP benefited. If Independents cut votes, the loss is yours,” she cautioned.

Addressing local grievances, Banerjee said erosion of river in Murshidabad and Malda districts worsened because the Union government failed to dredge Farakka barrage despite committing funds while releasing water to Bangladesh.

“We were supposed to get Rs 700 crore. No dredging has happened. The common people suffer,” she said.

“For a Rs 1,500-crore erosion-prevention project in Murshidabad and Malda, we have been waiting for the Centre’s approval. We haven’t got an answer,” she added.