West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stages a sit-in protest against the alleged arbitrary deletions from the post-SIR electoral rolls in the state, in Kolkata.
| Photo Credit: PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday (March 7, 2026) called for protests against the price hike of LPG cylinders on International Women’s Day and expressed concern over unavailability of gas cylinders.
“Yesterday itself they increased the LPG price by ₹60, and three days ago it was increased by ₹59. Then they said that gas must be booked 21 days in advance. But what will people do for 21 days if their gas cylinder finishes? Should they not have thought about these issues beforehand?…What will people eat?,” the Chief Minister said.
Ms. Banerjee made the remarks from the stage in Esplanade where she is holding demonstrations against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and I want to mention that many women’s votes have been deleted during the SIR process, under the pretext that their surnames changed after marriage. I will urge Chandrima (Minister Chandrima Bhattachrya) to ask women to organise protest rallies (michhils) with utensils, protesting against the increase in LPG prices and the deletion of women’s names from the voter list,” she said.
The Chief Minister urged her supporters to wear black dresses as a mark of protest on March 8 and said she will wear white. Ms. Banerjee has been holding demonstrations against SIR at Esplanade from March 6. On Saturday (March 7), she paraded people on the stage whose names have been removed from electoral rolls in West Bengal. She urged the judiciary to include the name of voters whose names have been removed from electoral rolls. “If there is democracy. Why are you removing names of genuine voters,” she asked. Targeting the BJP and Election Commission of India, she said, “selfish giants are playing selfish games”.
Speaking about the BJP led government at the Centre, she said that the Union government is relying on the support of N. Chandrababu Naidu (Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh). “If you try to remove genuine voters from the electoral rolls…we will overthrow your government in Delhi,” she said.
New Governor is BJP’s parrot
Ms. Banerjee also touched on the issue of sudden resignation of State’s Governor C.V. Ananda Bose. “Fifteen days before elections, you made Ananda Bose suffer the date of Dhankhar (for Vice President Jagdeepo Dhankhar),” she said. Ms. Banerjee claimed that C.V. Ananda Bose was threatened.
Referring to Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi who will assume the responsibility of Governor of West Bengal, she described him as a BJP’s parrot. “The person who is coming to Bengal now, I heard he had to face many comments from the Supreme Court. He is just a parrot of the BJP. But remember, Bengal is a different place. You may have done whatever you wanted in Tamil Nadu, but here you are not letting anyone finish their term,” she said.
Yuva Sathi benifits to be credited today
The Chief Minister also made an announcement that the entitlement of Banglar Yuva Sathi scheme which was supposed to be credited in the account of beneficiaries from April will be credited on March 7. Under the scheme announced on February 5, 2026 unemployed jobseekers aged 21–40 who have passed Madhyamik will receive ₹1,500 per month to help them move toward a self-reliant future. More than 80 lakh youths have applied for the entitlement.
Published – March 07, 2026 01:48 pm IST
