'Not imposing President's rule because...': BJP's former Bengal chief on fight with Mamata  

Union Minister of State and BJP MP from Balurghat, Sukanta Majumdar, on Tuesday ruled out the imposition of President's Rule in West Bengal, saying the Centre believes democratic accountability must come through the people rather than through central intervention.

Speaking on a podcast with ANI's Smita Prakash, Majumdar said calls for President’s Rule were misplaced. “I feel that imposing President’s Rule is not politically correct. We want the people to answer Mamata Banerjee. In a democracy, the people are the biggest power,” he said.

Majumdar added that it is through the will of the people that Mamata Banerjee will be removed. “It is through the power of the people that Mamata Banerjee’s end is going to happen this time. This is extremely important for democracy,” he said, adding that voters should see for themselves what the state government is doing. “The public should see what their elected law minister is doing. Your elected Chief Minister is stealing files.”

Majumdar also cited a 2011 incident, when Banerjee first became Chief Minister. “In South Kolkata, there was a clash between two groups of goons. The police arrested them. Being the Chief Minister and the Home Minister of the state, Mamata Banerjee entered the police station and brought all the criminals out,” he said.

He claimed Bengal has reached a point where people want change. “Now the time has come. The people of Bengal have decided that Mamata Banerjee has to be removed. That is why Mamata Banerjee has come out on the streets,” he said.

On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Majumdar said large-scale deletions were based on data. “After the SIR process, just wait and see what happens. So many names are being deleted from each seat—double the winning margin in many places,” he said.

Responding to allegations that the exercise was deliberate, he said, “24 lakh dead voters’ names have been removed. How many objections did you raise saying these people are alive?” He claimed only “six to nine people” were identified as alive, and “out of those, three were immediately reinstated.”

Taking a swipe at TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, Majumdar said, “I told Abhishek Banerjee to learn some basic math. Out of 24 lakh, what percentage is three? It is 0.0125 percent.” 

He added, “I even challenged him: write one page in Bengali, and the number of spelling mistakes you make will be more than that percentage.”