A Bharatiya Janata Party rally in central Kolkata on Monday brought the party’s campaign for a fresh revision of voter rolls into the city’s streets, while road closures and barricades along the route disrupted movement for residents, including a woman trying to reach Medical College Hospital.
BJP president Nitin Nabin led the rally from College Street to Esplanade, a distance of a little over two kilometres, alongside West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya and Suvendu Adhikari. The event was held a day after the INDIA bloc organised a protest in Delhi against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Nabin said the BJP would not tolerate what he described as “intruders” on voter rolls. He accused the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of benefiting electorally from such votes. He also criticised the INDIA bloc’s position on the revision process and referred to political developments in Delhi, Bihar, Bengal and Uttar Pradesh while addressing the gathering.
Bhattacharya said the voter-roll revision in Bengal remained incomplete because of opposition from the state government. He alleged that political violence had occurred during the earlier process, referring to attacks on BJP workers, the setting on fire of a block development office, an attack on BJP leader Agnimitra Paul’s car and the shooting of an ASHA worker. He called for another revision in Bengal and claimed that as many as 30 lakh names could be deleted if it was carried out. The report did not provide an independent confirmation of that figure.
Adhikari linked the voter-roll issue to the forthcoming Kolkata and Howrah civic body elections. He said the BJP would remove people and groups he associated with infiltration and disorder, and asked party workers to remain alert ahead of the civic polls. He also accused opponents of corruption, extortion and dynastic politics, without providing evidence for those allegations in the reported remarks.
The rally was titled “Save democracy, remove anarchy”. Roads along the route were shut and barricaded for the procession. A woman was seen asking police to allow her to cross towards Medical College Hospital, where a relative had been admitted. The reported disruption highlights how large political processions in dense central districts can affect access to hospitals, businesses and connecting streets even when the event is limited to a short route.
The chief minister said that more than 25,000 people attended the rally. The report did not include an independent estimate of the crowd size. With the BJP and the state’s ruling political establishment positioning voter-roll revision as a major issue ahead of the Kolkata and Howrah civic elections, the party’s next steps on the campaign and the administration’s arrangements for future rallies remain to be seen.
