CM Banerjee to intensify Anti-SIR campaign as BJP accuses TMC of shielding illegal migrants

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to escalate her offensive against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls with back-to-back rallies in Malda and Murshidabad this week, followed by a major mobilisation in Cooch Behar on December 9, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders said.

This marks the second phase of Banerjee’s anti-SIR outreach after last week’s Bongaon rally in the refugee-dominated Matua belt, where she alleged that the revision drive was being misused to harass and intimidate borderland families. The TMC is positioning her district-wise campaign as a counter to the BJP’s “infiltrator-cleansing” narrative.

According to TMC leaders, the decision to hold consecutive rallies in politically sensitive Malda, Murshidabad (December 3-4) and Cooch Behar (December 9) all border districts with sizeable minority, migrant and displaced populations reflects a deliberate strategy to reclaim political ground ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. The SIR exercise, which requires residents to furnish identity and citizenship-linked documents, has triggered unease in several border communities.

The Malda rally will be held in Gajole, while the Murshidabad meeting has been scheduled at Beharampore Stadium. The Cooch Behar rally at the historic Rash Mela Maidan is being projected as Banerjee’s biggest mobilisation in North Bengal this winter, with local leaders expecting heavy turnout from Dinhata, Sitai, Sitalkuchi and Mekhliganj areas where the SIR has reportedly heightened anxiety among poor rural households.

District TMC president Abhijit De Bhowmik said preparations are underway, with an emergency meeting of block presidents set for December 1, followed by a district-level session at Rabindra Bhavan on December 2. Ministers, MPs, MLAs, councillors and panchayat representatives will finalise the mobilisation strategy for the Chief Minister’s visit.

Party insiders said the Malda and Murshidabad rallies are intended to shape the narrative before Banerjee’s Cooch Behar show of strength. Local units have already launched booth-level campaigns highlighting what they describe as the SIR’s “errors and excesses,” which they claim are disproportionately affecting minorities and families with historically fluid cross-border linkages.

The BJP, meanwhile, has hit back sharply, accusing the TMC of attempting to stall a lawful and necessary correction of the voter list. Party leaders argue that the SIR is essential to remove non-citizens and fraudulent entries from the electoral rolls.

According to BJP leaders, the TMC’s aggressive campaign reflects its fear of losing political advantage if the voter list is “cleaned up.” They allege that the ruling party’s opposition stems from its reliance on illegal migrants as a vote bank, a claim the TMC has repeatedly denied.

The BJP maintains that the SIR is a routine administrative exercise aimed at increasing electoral integrity. “If the TMC opposes this, it only shows what they are trying to protect,” a senior BJP leader said, reiterating the party’s long-standing stance on infiltration along the Bengal-Bangladesh border.

With both parties using the SIR to consolidate their political narratives, Banerjee’s Cooch Behar mobilisation on December 9 is expected to intensify Bengal’s already charged confrontation over citizenship, identity and borderland politics.