KOLKATA — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s sit-in demonstration entered its second day on Saturday at Kolkata’s Esplanade Metro Channel. The leader of the Trinamool Congress remained at the site throughout the night, having initiated the protest at 2:00 PM on Friday. The Chief Minister is protesting against the alleged removal of names from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state.
During an address to her supporters, Banerjee claimed that the deletion of voters following the revision is a strategic move designed to divide the state of West Bengal. She accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of planning to manipulate the electoral roll to disenfranchise legitimate voters and seize political control. Furthermore, she alleged that Bengali-speaking populations in other regions of the country are facing harassment as part of a wider conspiracy to strip them of their democratic rights.
Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, legislators, and a large number of party workers have remained stationed at the protest site alongside the Chief Minister. A steady stream of supporters has been arriving since the early hours of Saturday morning to express solidarity with the cause. The party has signalled its intent to continue the demonstration as long as the perceived irregularities in the voter registration process persist.
The protest at the Esplanade Metro Channel highlights the deepening political divide in West Bengal as the state prepares for future electoral contests. While central authorities have previously defended the revision process as a standard administrative procedure, the Chief Minister’s public stance has turned the issue into a major flashpoint for political mobilization in the region.
