3-day Bengal Assembly Session: Special session begins today; on agenda, govt resolutions against SIR, ‘targeting of Bengalis’
Likely to be a stormy one with TMC to confront BJP by invoking Bengali pride, while Opp to target over ‘appeasement politics’
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a TMC event in Kolkata last week. She has been targeting the BJP government at the Centre and the Election Commission over the two issues (PTI File) 
Intensifying its confrontation with the Centre and the Election Commission over alleged “targeting” of Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states and the proposed Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has called a special session of the Assembly from Monday.
Ahead of the session, beginning from 12 noon, Speaker Biman Banerjee has called an all-party meeting as well as a meeting of the business advisory committee.
With Assembly elections nearing, sources said that during the three-day session, the TMC government plans to bring a resolution condemning the alleged targeting of Bengali-speaking people, particularly migrant workers, in the BJP-ruled states, who are being detained and deported on suspicion of being illegal Bangladesh immigrants.
The party will also introduce a resolution opposing the Election Commission’s proposed plan to carry out its controversial SIR in West Bengal, which will go to polls in the first quarter of 2026.
“The TMC government wants to get the two key resolutions passed unanimously. The government is also expected to clarify its stance on the SIR process, including the deletion of names and inclusion of new ones in the voters’ list just ahead of the elections,” a TMC leader said.
The special session of the Assembly is expected to be a stormy one. While the TMC would confront the BJP on the twin issues, invoking Bengali pride, the main Opposition party is likely to target the ruling party over “appeasement politics”.
Since the cases of Bengali-speaking migrants being detained from states like Maharashtra and Delhi, and pushed into Bangladesh, came to light two months ago, the TMC has accused the BJP of specifically targeting Bengalis.
TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of unleashing “linguistic terrorism” on Bengalis, and asserted that the fight for identity and language would continue until the BJP is defeated.
Speaking at the TMC’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally in July, she announced that to launch a Bhasha Andolan, a language movement, to protest against “attacks on Bengalis, the Bengali language and linguistic terrorism”.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent visit to the state, the TMC supremo asserted that she would not allow humiliation of any Bengali person in any corner of the country.
“There are 22 lakh migrant workers from Bengal who are working in different states. They have been employed because of their skill, not out of mercy. Yet today, they are being tortured and assaulted… If you disrespect Bengal, I will be offended. You can abuse and defame me all you want, but remember that I know how to fight. I have the courage. This is my soil’s strength. You cannot scare me,” she said in Bardhaman last week.
Earlier, the TMC government launched the “Shramashree” scheme to encourage migrant workers to return to West Bengal, offering them financial aid and support for up to a year. The state administration has claimed that it has brought back over 2,000 workers from other states.
The TMC has also been targeting the Election Commission over the SIR. The chief minister has termed it a “backdoor way of bringing in NRC (National Register of Citizens)” in the state.
Accusing the BJP of raising the NRC bogey before every election, she last week alleged that the party was using the Election Commission to roll out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to strike off names from the voters’ list by branding Indian citizens who crossed over during and before 1971 as Bangladeshis.
“With due respect to the EC, I urge the poll panel not to become the BJP’s lollipop, abiding by every demand they make. If you do this, the people of the country will not forgive you,” she had said.
The chief minister has also urged people not to fill out any form distributed by the ECI without knowing its details, expressing concern that names of “genuine” voters would be “arbitrarily removed”.
“The BJP has brought over 500 teams to Bengal from other states to conduct surveys for omitting the names of voters. Don’t give any information to unknown persons who come to your doorstep and ask anything. They may try to do NRC in the name of SIR. But as long as I live, I will not allow them to delete a single voter in Bengal,” the TMC chief said at a party rally on Saturday.
House to stay shut on Karma Puja
The Assembly, which has called a special session from Monday, will not function on September 3, Wednesday, on account of Karma Puja, which is celebrated by the tribal community in the state. It is a festival linked to farming and is celebrated by various tribal communities, including the Ho, Oraon, Munda, Baiga, and Santhal people, in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, and Odisha. ENS
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