Amid allegations of rising death toll in West Bengal linked to fear over the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has launched an awareness program under party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who has set up teams of party leaders to reach out to the families of those who died due to “fear and anxiety” linked to the SIR, a party official said on Saturday.
The party aims to provide emotional support to the affected families and reassure the people of West Bengal that the TMC stands by them in… Uncertainty resulting from the practice of the Election CommissionTMC sources said.
According to a senior party leader, the teams will talk to the family members personally and provide them with all forms of assistance. “The party provides financial assistance, along with other assistance whenever needed. Local party leaders have been asked to stay in touch with these families on a regular basis.”
Starting on Saturday, the teams visited the residences of Pradeep Kar Panihati, Kakoli Sarkar of Titagarh, Haseena Begum of Dankuni, Bitti Das in Chioravoli (Hooghly), and Jaheer Mal in Uluberia.
On Sunday, the teams met the families of Bimal Santra in Jamalpur, Sheikh Sirajuddin in Ramnagar, Sufikul Islam in Bhangar, Tarak Saha in Berhampur, and Hafeez S. In Colby, and Biman Pramanik in Cynthia.
After meeting Sovicul Islam’s family in Bhangar, Trinamool leader Arup Chakrabarty said: “We left Sovichol because of the fear generated by SIR. We are with them and will not allow them to feel alone. The BJP and the EC are responsible for these deaths.”
“I heard that Safikul was worried that he did not have documents and was telling his wife that without documents he would be deported to Bangladesh. Earlier, the BJP was terrorizing people through the National Registration of Citizens, and now the SIR,” he added.
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High-ranking sources in the TMC said the leadership would decide to take further action after collecting first-hand accounts from the families.
(tags for translation) West Bengal Deaths SIR
