Trinamool links migrant worker’s death to SIR; Opposition accuses party of stoking panic

The Trinamool Congress leadership in West Bengal on Sunday linked the death of a migrant worker from Jamalpur in Purba Bardhaman to anxiety sparked by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, while Opposition parties accused the Trinamool of creating panic among voters.

In a social media post drawing attention to the death, the party wrote: “another precious life lost to @BJP4India’s politics of fear and hatred”.

The migrant, Bimal Satra, who had been working in Tamil Nadu, died a few days ago and his body was brought to his residence in Jamalpur on Saturday evening. Trinamool leaders, including the district president, visited the family. The party’s post said, “And now, Bimal Santra, a migrant worker from Nabagram village of Jamalpur, Purba Bardhaman, who died of fear sparked by SIR. This is the human cost of an exercise designed to terrorise and displace. SIR is an instrument of intimidation, driving our people to despair, forcing them to question their citizenship and their right to belong. @BJP4India , your hands are stained with blood.”

The son of the deceased, Bapi Santra, told reporters that his father had gone to Tamil Nadu after losing work and was admitted to hospital after his condition deteriorated. “My father was under severe stress over his name in the voter list. He was hospitalised due to this. We contacted our MLA, who helped us a lot in this crisis,” he said.

While the son said his father died in hospital, Rabindranath Chatterjee, Trinamool’s district president and Katwa MLA, said the migrant worker died by suicide after consuming poison.

The Trinamool has highlighted several recent deaths and attributed them to distress caused by SIR. These include the deaths of Pradeep Kar of Panihati and 95-year-old Khitish Majumder of Kotwali in Paschim Medinipur. Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee recently visited Pradeep Kar’s family and has called for protests demanding justice. On November 4, party chairperson Mamata Banerjee and Mr. Banerjee are scheduled to lead protests in Kolkata against SIR.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and the CPI(M) have accused the Trinamool of fomenting fear. BJP leader Keya Ghosh said that while every death was unfortunate, the Trinamool was indulging in “vulture politics” over the incidents. Ms. Ghosh noted that Pradeep Kar had missing fingers and said his name appeared on the voter lists of 2002 and 2025. She cautioned the public against what she described as attempts by the Trinamool to politicise deaths and even to seize bodies to link them to SIR.

Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy similarly accused Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool leaders of spreading panic over the revision exercise.

Separately, a local Trinamool trade-union leader in Bamangachi, Tapas Dasgupta, was recorded urging supporters to raise the spectre of “detention camps” among women. “If your name is removed from the voter list, you will be sent to a detention camp. We have to go to every house in the region and instill this fear in the female members of the family. We have to go into people’s kitchens and raise the issue of voter list in the conversation,” he was heard saying.