Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 1 : BJP MP and Chairman of the Bar Council of India, Manan Kumar Mishra on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Trinamool Congress following remarks by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal and accused the party of using "abusive language" that show a sign of "desperation" to form a government.
The BJP MP's sharp response came after Abhishek Banerjee, who alleged "vote theft" through manipulation of voter lists and software rather than EVMs, claimed 50 lakh to 1 crore voters were being disenfranchised via algorithms, and demanded the release of a list of 1.36 crore voters flagged with logical discrepancies.
Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, the BJP MP said, "The TMC people are saying anything out of panic. Whether it's Mamata Banerjee or her nephew, they are spewing all sorts of abusive language. This is a sign of their desperation. They are definitely going to be ousted in this election."
Reacting to Abhishek Banerjee's statement, BJP leader Nisith Pramanik said, "Abhishek Banerjee says that we will not allow SIR in Bengal, but SIR is happening in Bengal. He had announced from a public platform that if SIR happens in Bengal and even a single voter's name is removed, he would do God knows what in West Bengal. Where have all his tall talks gone today?"
Accusing the Mamata Banerjee government, Pramanik further added that the law and order situation in West Bengal is continuously deteriorating as the "Chief Minister is engaged in appeasement politics".
"In Bengal, law and order is deteriorating. In this country, internal security is continuously deteriorating, and only Mamata Banerjee is responsible for it. Today, we can say that Mamata Banerjee is scared. She engages in politics of appeasement," he told ANI.
Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Election Commission over SIR in Bengal and said that the BJP was defeated in the assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the state and the same result will be repeated in 2026 assembly polls.
Talking to the media after meeting the Election Commission, Banerjee accused the BJP of misusing institutions."People of Bengal are made to build differently. We are not built like that; we will not bow down before you. Let the BJP put their entire mind and use all the agencies and whatever they have at their disposal. Still, the people of Bengal will win the state, lock, stock, and barrel, and defeat the BJP. They have fallen flat on their faces in 2012, 2021, 2024, and it will happen again in 2026. We will bow before the power of the people, not the people in power," he said.
Banerjee alleged that the poll panel failed to answer most of party's questions.
Meanwhile, Senior Trinamool Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Majeed Memon backed party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's criticism of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal, alleging bias by the Election Commission.
Politics in West Bengal has heated up ahead of the 2026 Legislative Assembly elections. Union Minister Amit Shah gave the clarion call for the polls to BJP workers in the state during his three-day visit to Kolkata.