Rahul Gandhi Likely To Lead Anti-SIR Protests In WB, Says Congress Leader Prasenjit Bose

Congress leader Prasenjit Bose has indicated that Rahul Gandhi could spearhead protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal ahead of next year’s assembly elections if the Election Commission “repeats the mistakes it made in Bihar”, PTI reported.

Bose, an economist and social activist who recently joined the Congress, told PTI that he anticipates a realignment of opposition parties against the BJP when the SIR exercise begins in the state, “presumably after the upcoming festive season”.

“Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is at the forefront of the anti-SIR movement in Bihar, and his exposes of the biased exercise have not only given political traction to the Congress but also encouraged the rank and file of the entire INDIA bloc,” Bose said in an interview. He added that Gandhi is likely to follow the same approach in West Bengal and in other states such as Assam, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, where polls are due next year, if the EC fails to learn from Bihar.

Bose said that while issues such as corruption under the TMC rule, atrocities against women and children, and the treatment of Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states would feature in the poll agenda, the SIR is expected to take centre stage once the exercise begins.

Discussing the possibility of opposition alliances, Bose said that any collaboration between the Congress and the TMC would depend on the ruling party’s stance. He noted that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee have followed an ‘Ekla chalo re’ policy of contesting elections independently.

Bose, a former Left student leader at JNU and SFI strategist, joined the Congress in Kolkata on 15 September in the presence of Left-turned Congress leaders Syed Naseer Hussain and Kanhaiya Kumar. He resigned from the CPI(M) in 2012 over disagreements on supporting Pranab Mukherjee’s presidential candidature and was subsequently expelled from the party.

Regarding the Election Commission, Bose said its approach in West Bengal might be moderated following the resistance and Supreme Court intervention it faced in Bihar. He also highlighted the role of the TMC administration, alleging that state officials, largely appointed by the ruling party, could affect the fairness of the SIR exercise. “While in Bihar, marginalised groups had their names unfairly deleted, in West Bengal, the TMC could target opposition supporters,” he said.

Bose emphasised that the Congress is fighting an “ideological battle with the Constitution as its centrepiece”, contrasting it with the TMC’s record. He also addressed the relative weakness of opposition alliances in West Bengal, attributing it to the absence of concrete political programmes.

On his own role in the Congress, Bose said he is open to serving as a strategist, field activist, or candidate in assembly polls, depending on the party’s needs.

(With inputs from PTI)