00:00Big news coming in from West Bengal. It seems Mamata Banerjee is leading a protest march
00:05against the SIR exercise, which is the special intensive revision of the electoral roll.
00:13The phase two of that exercise has kicked off in India in many states and West Bengal
00:19is one of those states. Mamata Banerjee, who's been raising her voice against this exercise,
00:25is leading a protest march in Kolkata. As you can see on your screens right now,
00:31these visuals are coming live from Kolkata. She has hit the streets of Kolkata and is leading
00:37a protest march. TMC Netas, along with her, joining this march and walking behind her.
00:46Now, this SIR showdown is on the boil in Kolkata as Mamata Banerjee, who has been
00:53repeatedly criticizing the exercise and saying that this is an attempt from the central government
01:01to take away the voting rights of the minorities in the week. They're on the streets of Kolkata
01:07right now. Joining us right now is India Today's Indrajit Kundu. Indrajit, tell us,
01:13what is Mamata Banerjee marching against?
01:24Well, you know, this is a mega protest rally organized by the Trinamol Congress, the first
01:28of its kind as far as the SIR exercise is concerned. And it comes on the very day when the Election
01:34Commission has begun the SIR process in the state. You would know that the hundreds of thousands
01:40of block-level officers, boot-level officers, BLOs will be out visiting various voters' houses
01:47to distribute enumeration fraud. And the Trinamol Congress has, of course, chosen this very day
01:53to protest, to register its protest, opposing the SIR exercise at a time when other opposition
01:59parties, be it the DMK or the Congress, have also opposed this exercise. They're calling it
02:04Backdoor NRC. The Trinamol Congress says this is Backdoor NRC. And shortly from now, I'll be able to
02:10show you Mamata Banerjee leading the rally along with Trinamol Congress second-in-command Abhishek
02:15Banerjee. This mega show of strength and protest march by the Trinamol Congress. They don't want
02:22to get rid of this opportunity to hit out at the central government and the BJP at the same time.
02:29Remember, similar mega protest was seen, witnessed by West Bengal during the CAA NRC movement a few
02:36years back. And once again, what we are seeing, of course, is that Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamol
02:42top brass have taken to the streets to hit home the point at a time when the BJP is upping the ante in
02:49West Bengal, saying that once the SIR exercise is conducted, at least a crore and more voters,
02:57vogus voters, would be deleted from the voters' list. Now, that has become a huge flashpoint here
03:04in the politics of West Bengal with the Trinamol Congress claiming that how is it that the
03:10opposition BJP, which of course is in power at the center, how are they being able to give such a
03:16number that one crore, 1.5 crore people will be deleted from the voters' list. So that has become
03:23a flashpoint really, Anjali, with the BJP saying and upping the rhetoric that blacks and crores of
03:31voters would be deleted because they believe that those are illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.
03:37Now, West Bengal is a state which shares a few thousand kilometers of porous border with Bangladesh.
03:44And this has, this is a very, very sensitive issue, given the shared history between India and
03:51Bangladesh. Ever since the formation of Bangladesh in 1970s, before that, and even after that,
03:57in various decades, we've seen hordes of people coming in from the other side. A lot of them,
04:02of course, Hindu refugees. Now, those Hindu refugees, mostly from the Matuwa community in the
04:09bordering districts, they are, there is also an anxiety amongst the Matuwa community members.
04:14And we've seen that today at this rally, led by the Tribunal Congress,
04:20Matuwa community members have also joined. Now, they form a very, very crucial vote bank here in
04:25West Bengal. And the BJP, with their promise to bring in CAA, had got the full backing and support of
04:33the Matuwa community in the past successive elections, be it the 2019 Lok Sabha election,
04:38or the 2021 assembly, and last year's Lok Sabha election. So at this point in time,
04:45this SIR exercise has taken full political proportions. It's a, it's a flashpoint between
04:51the opposition and the ruling Trinimal Congress. And as you can see, we are right at the heart of Kolkata.
04:56This is the Esplanade area, and a huge gathering of people. People are out on the streets, Trinimal
05:02Congress, supporters are out on the streets. It's a weekday. So of course, office goers, they're all,
05:07you know, out here, trying to catch a glimpse of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. And of course,
05:12Trinimal Congress and Mamata Banerjee doing what they do best. This is her USP. Mamata Banerjee has risen
05:19out from such street protests. Absolutely, Indrajit. Mamata Banerjee is at it again,
05:25walking and registering her protests. But BJP is calling it a drama to save infiltrators.
05:32It's a not a political program. It's a, it's a, it's a program of Jamaat. Jamaat, Jamaat,
05:41which is led by Khala Mamata Banerjee. A particular community participated. The TMC,
05:48the Mamata Banerjee, is trying to protect the Muslims. Bangla desi Muslims.
