Murshidabad (WB), April 11 TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and two politicians of being agents of the BJP and vowed to restore voting rights to disenfranchised citizens within a month of the TMC returning to power.
Addressing a rally in Rejinagar, Banerjee alleged that Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and AJUP president Humayun Kabir, along with the CEC, are working to undermine people and strengthen the BJP in Murshidabad district.
He accused Kumar of "taking away voting rights" of the poor under the guise of discrepancies in electoral rolls and warned that a weakened TMC would harm local people more than the party itself.
"If the Trinamool Congress is weak here, the loss for you is much greater than the loss for TMC," Banerjee told the crowd.
He also targeted Kabir, referring to a purported viral video in which a person resembling Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief Humayun Kabir was seen discussing a 1000 crore deal with the BJP to oust the TMC from power in West Bengal.
"The money was not for the people of Murshidabad, not for roads, not for housing, but for his own pocket," he alleged.
He also claimed that the video showed Kabir describing Muslims, the majority in Murshidabad, as "very foolish and easily misled."
Dismissing Kabir's claim that the video was AI-generated, Banerjee questioned why AJUP's state president Pirzada Khobayeb Amin resigned, if the video was true.
"And why did Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM leave your side?" he asked.
Following the surfacing of the video, the AJUP-AIMIM alliance collapsed on Friday, just two weeks after it was formed.
Banerjee also referred to Kabir's past political stance, asking why he had no issue joining the BJP in 2019, the party that demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992, and alleged that AJUP is now acting at the behest of the saffron party in Murshidabad.
The TMC leader claimed that Kabir, who later joined the TMC, had told him that he would "only lay the bricks (for the proposed Babri Masjid in Murshidabad) and then throw them away."
Banerjee said that he had told Kabir, "TMC does not indulge in politics with religion. The BJP is doing politics with the Ram Mandir, and you are doing politics with the Babri Masjid. Where is the difference? If you have to build the Babri Masjid, do it. You retire from politics. Both cannot happen together."
Kabir was suspended from the TMC after announcing his plan to build a mosque modeled on the Babri Masjid of Ayodhya.
Alleging a wider nexus, Banerjee challenged Adhir Chowdhury, ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui, Asaduddin Owaisi and Humayun Kabir to "give up" central security cover if they have no links with the BJP.
Siddiqui is the only MLA in the outgoing state assembly who does not belong to TMC or BJP.
Regarding the restoration of voter rights, Banerjee assured those removed from electoral rolls that they would be able to vote again within one month of the "Ma-Mati-Manush (mother-land-people)" government taking office on May 4, when election results will be announced.
"You are citizens of this country, citizens of this state. No one should be worried or panicked," he said.
Stepping up his attack on opposition alliances, Banerjee compared the Congress, CPI(M) and others to food prepared with "rotten potatoes, onions and eggplant" that would cause stomach problems.
Banerjee said that he has taken personal responsibility for the district's development.
"The responsibility for the development of all 22 seats is mine. I am fulfilling the debt of love through development," he declared.
Addressing another election rally in Sainthia, Birbhu district, Banerjee claimed that of the 90 lakh names deleted in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, 57.5 lakh are Hindu Bengali voters.
"They are branding Hindu Bengalis as Bangladeshis and striking their names off the electoral rolls," he claimed at the rally.
Banerjee asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify the status of Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in Delhi since August 2024.
"Hasina has been given shelter in Delhi by you. Is she an infiltrator or a refugee?" he asked.
Regarding the BJP's poll promises, Banerjee claimed that Modi had pledged 2,500 per month to women if the party won in Delhi, but "not a paisa" has reached beneficiaries even after 14 months.
He termed the BJP's guarantees a "chit fund", alleging that "the seller disappears after the sale", and alleged that in Bihar, BJP leaders were demanding money back from pre-poll beneficiaries.
In contrast, Banerjee said, the TMC's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, under which women from the general category receive 1,500 and SC/ST women get 1,700 per month.
"As long as TMC exists, no one can stop Lakshmir Bhandar," he said.
Banerjee also challenged the BJP to present a report card of the work done in Birbhum over the last 10-12 years and described this election as a "vote for revenge" against the BJP.