Kolkata, March 9 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of threatening state officials during a meeting with the administration and warned that "false bravado" by constitutional authorities was unacceptable, escalating the confrontation between the state government and the poll panel ahead of the assembly elections.
Speaking from the site of her protest, now in its fourth day, in central Kolkata against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Banerjee alleged that the chief election commissioner had adopted a threatening tone towards the state bureaucracy.
"The CEC threatened our officers today during the meeting. I want to tell the CEC that having courage is good, but false bravado is not so," she said.
Her remarks came against the backdrop of the Election Commission's full bench meeting with senior state administrative and police officials earlier in the day to review preparedness for the assembly elections likely to be held in April.
According to officials present at the meeting, Kumar warned that any lapse in maintaining law and order ahead of the elections would not be tolerated, and strict action would follow if responsibilities were not discharged properly.
The chief election commissioner also questioned the absence of a Narcotics Advisory Committee in the state and asked officials to strengthen monitoring mechanisms ahead of the polls, they said.
Escalating her attack on the poll panel, Banerjee alleged that the ongoing SIR exercise was being used to deprive people of their voting rights.
"We have only one point: everyone must be given the right to vote. Our only issue is to ensure voting rights for all," the TMC supremo said.
She alleged that intimidation and deletion of names from electoral rolls were being used as political tools.
"If you think you can capture power by attacking people, intimidating them and removing names from the voters' list, that will not happen," the chief minister asserted, alluding to the alleged BJP-EC nexus.
Banerjee also warned sections of the bureaucracy against allegedly acting under political pressure, saying records of their actions were being kept.
"Records are being maintained. Today, you may feel protected, but governments change. If the BJP goes tomorrow, where will you go? Then I will be the first to transfer you," she said.
The chief minister also alleged that institutions and agencies which once maintained neutrality were increasingly acting in a partisan manner.
"Earlier, they always remained neutral, but now many agencies have become one-sided," she claimed.
In a controversial remark, Banerjee alleged that some institutions were being politically misused, recalling an incident last year when the Army dismantled a Trinamool Congress protest stage at the Maidan.
"At some places, they even tried to turn the Army into party offices and used them to break our stage. The Army never used to do such things. They always remained neutral," she said.
In September last year, the Indian Army dismantled a TMC protest stage near the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road in Kolkata's Maidan area that had been set up for the party's "Bhasha Andolan" protest after the permitted time limit expired. The Army cited security and protocol considerations for the action, while Banerjee alleged political misuse of the force.
Taking another swipe at the CEC, Banerjee referred to reports that the poll panel could take action even after May.
"I heard he said action will be taken even after May. I say having courage is good, but adventurism is not good," she said.
In a sharp attack on those she accused of intimidating officials, Banerjee said people who believed they could scare officers into submission were "living in a fool's paradise".
"Those threatening officers are living in a fool's paradise. The people of Bengal will not bow their heads. For two months after May, you may try to act tough, but officers know how to handle things tactfully. After that, even you may not know where you will be," she said.
In a dig at the poll panel's authority, the chief minister said it appeared as if some people believed they had become "super gods".
"You think you will take action even after May? As if you have become a super god, like Spider Man who can do anything. Those tactics may work to scare children, but you are trying to scare voters," she said.
Banerjee also alleged that some people had suffered health problems, including strokes, during the SIR process and questioned whether the Election Commission had taken note of such incidents.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, she alleged that the party had become "desperate" to capture power in the state.
The chief minister said her dharna against the SIR exercise would continue on Tuesday and thanked officials and supporters who had gathered at the protest site.
The sharp exchange underscores the intensifying political battle in West Bengal ahead of the assembly polls, with the revision of electoral rolls emerging as a major flashpoint between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP, while the Election Commission has increasingly come under attack from the state government.