“West Bengal is victim of SIR”: Mamata Banerjee vows to continue fight at INDIA bloc rally

New Delhi [India], November 1 (ANI): Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that people in Bengal are "victims" of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and vowed to continue the fight against the exercise, asserting that she would not surrender.
Addressing the INDIA bloc’s mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital, Banerjee accused the BJP of looting West Bengal and said the fight to protect democracy would continue through political and democratic means.
“Bengal is the victim of the circumstances of this SIR. We will not give up. We will give our lives, we will fight, but we will not surrender. They looted our Bengal. We will save democracy and bring it back. We will take revenge through politics. We will take revenge through democracy. We will fight,” she said.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav targeted the BJP and asserted that the party and its allies would not return to power after the 2027 Assembly elections.
“Those who once came from UP will be driven out from UP itself. The people of UP know how to welcome and how to bid farewell even better. In 2027, such a farewell will happen that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies will not be able to return again,” Yadav said.
Describing the gathering at Ramlila Maidan as the “Haldighati of democracy”, the SP chief said the public support and slogans at the rally reflected the possibility of change.
"Today, Ramlila Maidan has turned into the Haldighati of democracy. The massive public support and slogans of revolution are proof that change can happen at any moment,” Yadav said.
Taking dig at the BJP, he said those who had earlier claimed to be an “unmovable foot of Angad” had lost their political ground. Referring to Kashi, he said the people there had given the party a “double zero”.
"Those who claimed to be an 'unmovable foot of Angad' now have no ground left beneath them. The people of Kashi have given them a double zero,” Yadav said.
Yadav also alleged that the BJP was conspiring because it could not win public support and accused the party of using the Election Commission to pursue its political objectives.
“You and I have seen that the BJP is continuously plotting conspiracies because they know they cannot win among the public. So they have chosen their path through the Election Commission," he added.
INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, attended the rally organised against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Top Opposition leaders and supporters from across the country gathered at the venue for the INDIA bloc’s ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest march, raising concerns over the SIR exercise and alleged irregularities in electoral rolls.
The march began from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction and proceeded towards Ramlila Maidan. The gathering followed a public “impeachment” programme against the CEC held in the national capital on October 31. (ANI)