General
Published on: Aug 07, 2025 05:34 pm IST
General Speaking at administrative programme in Bengal’s Jhargram district, the chief minister also attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI)
Kolkata: The West Bengal government has brought back more than 2,000 migrant workers, while many are still languishing in detention camps in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled (BJP) states after being labelled as Bangladeshis, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday.
Speaking at an administrative programme in Bengal’s Jhargram district, the chief minister also attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the second day in a row for suspending four state government officers.
“People from West Bengal are being tortured. We have brought back more than 2,000 people. People (migrant workers from West Bengal) have been held at detention camps in Gurugram and Assam. In Rajasthan, atrocities are going on. A tribal girl from Malda was held in Madhya Pradesh and deported to Bangladesh. Dalits are being tortured,” Banerjee said.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also attacked the poll panel, saying that the ECI was acting beyond its jurisdiction. “The Centre has engaged the ECI in a shameless game so that the genuine voters in the state can’t vote. The ECI takes over the control of the state administration after election dates are announced and the Model Code of Conduct is enforced. This isn’t the time for the ECI’s jurisdiction. There is an elected government,” he said.
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CM Banerjee, who led a rally — Bhasha Andolan (Linguist Movement) — in Jhargram on Wednesday to protest against the alleged atrocities on Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states, had said that she would travel to other countries and expose the BJP in front of the world if names of genuine voters are deleted from the electoral rolls in the state through a Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
CM Banerjee, speaking at an administrative programme in Birbhum district on July 29, urged the migrant workers to return to West Bengal. “There is no dearth of work here. If they want to return, we would arrange for the transportation, provide them with ration cards, government health cards, job cards for employment, and get their children admitted in schools,” she had said.
She said that many people had come to India from Bangladesh after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and settled here. “They are Indian citizens now. Why are Indian citizens being deported to Bangladesh? We have nothing to say if actions are being initiated against infiltrators,” she added.
Slamming the ECI for suspending four state government officers, CM Banerjee said, “Two West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) officers were suspended. The dates of the assembly elections (scheduled to be held in 2026) have not been announced yet. See the audacity. Under which rule has it been done? We know that the ECI takes over once the election dates are declared. Do you think you can threaten the officers? The state government would stand beside its officers,” she added.
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The poll panel had suspended two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and two Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) on Tuesday for allegedly adding names of fictitious voters to the electoral roll and compromising data security. The poll panel also directed the state’s Chief Secretary to lodge FIRs against the four officers and a casual data entry operator.
Officials from the poll panel declined to comment on the statements made by the chief minister.
The letter sent by the ECI to the state’s chief secretary, however, cited Section 13(CC) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which states that the chief electoral officers, district election officers, and other relevant staff are deemed to be on deputation to the ECI while engaged in the preparation, revision, and conduct of elections. During this period, they are under the control, superintendence, and discipline of the poll panel.