Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Oct 29: West Bengal Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim has triggered a major political storm with his fiery remarks that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) would “break the legs” of the Election Commission (EC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if any discrepancies occur in implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state.
Speaking after an all-party meeting on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Hakim, a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, warned that TMC would not tolerate the removal of any genuine voter’s name.
“There was an all-party meeting organised by the Trinamool Congress. I made it clear that if even one genuine voter’s name is removed, we will protest. The camps opened under the pretext of implementing the CAA—if these are being done with BJP and EC’s joint efforts—we will break their legs,” Hakim said.
The BJP condemned the comments, calling them an open threat to a constitutional body.
“Mamata Banerjee’s right-hand man Bobby Hakim says, ‘We will break the leg of the Election Commission.’ For protecting illegal infiltrators, TMC is inciting violence,” BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said on X.
The row comes amid the EC’s decision to conduct the second phase of SIR in 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal, between November and February. Opposition parties like the CPI(M) and Congress have questioned the transparency of the exercise.
Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal assured that not a single legitimate voter’s name would be deleted, saying the final list would be “100 per cent fair and transparent.”
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has earlier stated that her government would oppose the CAA if it discriminates against any community.