Mamata Banerjee likely to visit New Delhi to create consensus among opposition against SIR

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to be in New Delhi next week to create a consensus among the opposition parties against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in several states, including her own.

Although the exact date and tenure of her visit to the national capital is yet to be finalised, the Chief Minister wants to be there during the upcoming Budget session of the Parliament, considering that important leaders and MPs of all major opposition parties would be present at New Delhi then, said a member of the West Bengal cabinet who refused to be named.

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As per the schedule, the hearings on the claim and objections on the draft voters’ list are slated to be completed on February 7, and the final voters’ list is scheduled to be published on February 14.

However, there had been an indication from the Election Commission of India (ECI) that both these deadlines might be extended. Soon after the publication of the final voters’ list, the poll panel will announce the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in West Bengal and some other states.

Trinamool Congress insiders said that both the Chief Minister and the party’s General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, had claimed earlier that their protests against the manner in which the SIR exercise is conducted will not just be limited to West Bengal but will be spread over to the national capital, especially in front of the Election Commission’s headquarters there.

In such a situation, said party insiders, the aim of the Chief Minister’s visit will not just be to create a larger consensus among the opposition parties on this issue but also to get them involved in the movement on this issue at the national capital.

Political observers, however, feel that questions remain on how far the Chief Minister would be able to achieve her goal on this count, considering that, unlike West Bengal, the SIR exercise had not been really such a contentious issue in other states and Union territories where such parallel revision exercises are taking place.