Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold his first public rally in West Bengal since the draft Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rolls were published.
The PM would be in Nadia district on Saturday to inaugurate national highway projects and is also expected to finalise the roadmap for the assembly polls due to be held in the state early next year.
This would be the PM’s third visit to West Bengal in the past five months, but assumes greater importance since there’s been reported unease among the Matua community members post the publication of the draft rolls from his strategically located BJP rally venue in Taherpur area of Ranaghat, not far from the heartland of the Namasudra Hindu community in adjacent Bongaon.
Political observers say the Matuas – a Dalit Hindu community that migrated from Bangladesh over decades due to religious persecution – hold sway in as many as 80 of the 294 assembly seats in the state.
“The people of West Bengal are benefiting from numerous pro-people initiatives of the central government. At the same time, they are suffering due to the TMC’s misgovernance in every sector,” the PM posted on X on Friday evening while announcing his visit.
“The loot and intimidation of the TMC have crossed all limits. That is why, BJP is the people’s hope,” he added.
The SIR of electoral rolls, a nationwide exercise, has encountered resistance in the Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress alleges that the exercise is being carried out in “haste” and that a large number of genuine voters, particularly refugee Hindus, risk disenfranchisement on its account.
Banerjee has already led anti-SIR rallies in Nadia and North 24 Parganas, the two adjoining districts that share a border with Bangladesh and have a significant Matua presence.
In the draft electoral rolls published after the enumeration phase, 58,20,899 names have been excluded in the state, reducing the electorate to 7.08 crore. Additionally, around 1.36 crore entries have also been flagged for “logical discrepancies”, while 30 lakh voters have been categorised as unmapped – a significant percentage of whom are likely to be called for verification hearings over the next 45 days.
Also Read: PM to address rally, unveil NH projects in West Bengal tomorrow
Over the past years, poll results have indicated that the BJP gained significant inroads within the community, promising them formal Indian citizenship. But, speculations are rife that significant numbers of Matuas have already been excluded from draft rolls.
During his visit, the PM will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for two national highway projects worth around ₹3,200 crore – the 66.7-km-long four-laning of the Barajaguli-Krishnanagar section of NH-34 in Nadia district and lay the foundation stone for the four-laning of the 17.6-km-long Barasat–Barajaguli section in North 24 Parganas district.
The projects are expected to serve as a vital connecting link between Kolkata and Siliguri, boosting trade, tourism and economic activity across southern and northern parts of the state, officials said.
Follow us
