Congress, CPI(M) leaders in Bengal say ‘rising infiltrators’ narrative of BJP proved wrong after SIR draft list

Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders in West Bengal came down heavily on the Bharatiya Janta Party on Friday (December 19) and said that the “increasing illegal infiltrators” narrative developed by the BJP was proved wrong after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process draft roll was published. 

CPI(M) State secretary Mohammad Salim said that the BJP leadership’s “excitement to throw out illegal infiltrators in West Bengal fell flat” after the draft electoral roll was published and most Muslim-dominated areas were mapped better in the State. 

“This is the reason they (BJP government) are not doing a national census because it a general census which includes all Indians. That is why calling Muslims infiltrators or Rohingyas is a way for the BJP to dehumanise the people. This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. There are many marginalised in India who are vulnerable and have no documents,” Mr Salim said. He added that many vulnerable people from tribal communities, women, rented accommodation holders, street dwellers stand a chance to be omitted in the SIR process due to lack of concrete documents and should be looked into. 

He raised questions about how people who have not been named in the draft electoral roll but are legal Indian citizens will be included in the list. He accused that BJP and RSS are not only against Muslims, but are against all minorities and marginalised, including caste minorities and women. 

Ghulam Ahmad Mir, MLA from Jammu and Kashmir, said that the rumour that the BJP leadership had spread in West Bengal that there are over a crore of “infiltrators” in the State has been proved wrong. “Among the 58 lakh deletions in the Bengal draft electoral rolls, 24 are deceased. I ask them (BJP), how many are the “infiltrators” among this list?” Mr Mir asked. He said that even if some undocumented people are found in Bengal, most of them are minorities from nearby Bangladesh and they have all come under humanitarian causes. 

Mr Mir added that no one is against SIR, rather they are only against the “hurried” process the Election Commission of India (ECI) followed to do the SIR process is questionable.  

The draft electoral roll was published on Tuesday (December 16), where 58 lakh deletions were marked in the list. Around 24.16 lakh electors were identified as deceased, 32.65 lakh electors as shifted and absent, and 1.38 lakh electors were found to have duplicate enrolments in multiple places. 

The final voter list will be published on February 14, 2025. 

West Bengal is set to hold the State Legislative Assembly in mid-2026.