TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said the anti-incumbency in West Bengal, which has been localized, has largely been overshadowed by the impact of the SIR exercise, giving the party a clear lead over the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections.
The journalist-turned-politician, who was named one of the TMC’s star activists in the polls, claimed that Ms Mamata Banerjee does not face any disenchantment among her supporters as a leader. Such sentiments, she added, may have prevailed against some of the local leaders who were replaced on the ballots in the elections.
In its list of 291 candidates declared by Ms Banerjee on March 17, the TMC dropped 74 sitting MLAs, nearly a third of its legislative strength, signaling a calibrated anti-constitutional strategy.
“BJP’s agenda was to use the SIR process to defeat Mamata Banerjee and capture West Bengal by any means possible as it has been continuously defeating the saffron party for the last 15 years.
“The exercise has now turned on its head and given the TMC a distinct advantage. If there was any anti-government brewing at the local level, the SIR exercise has completely eclipsed it. It was a blunder by the BJP,” Ghose told PTI in an interview.
“Let them delete as many names as they want. We will still win,” she added.
The TMC MP said the “hastily imposed” SIR exercise, which questions the citizenship of not only the masses but also senior citizens like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, former chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty, minister Sashi Panja and cricketer Richa Ghosh, has created a wave against the BJP in the state.
“Where are the infiltrators the BJP has been talking so loudly about?” she said.
Ms Ghose said the top TMC’s track record in ground communications and management, “which has gone largely unappreciated in the media”, would find a positive response from the people whose lives she had changed.
“She is a 24/7 politician, in touch with her people. After three terms, some degree of anti-establishment at the local level is natural. But there is no such sentiment against her as chief minister. She is the only person who is regressive in the state. People know they can turn to her in difficult times and she will sort things out,” Ghose said.
Calling Ms Banerjee “a political phenomenon unique in South Asia”, Ms Ghose praised the TMC chief for “successfully running a political startup in the vicious misogynistic and patriarchal atmosphere of Indian politics” without a reference or mentor.
“It has given public space to women leaders in the TMC like no other political party in India. We are a women-first party and there is no way we will tolerate crimes against women,” she said when asked how the party plans to respond to the issue of “lack of safety for women in West Bengal” in the upcoming polls.
Referring to crimes against women committed in twin-engine states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, Ms Ghose said the family of victim RG Kar still had “the best chance of getting justice in West Bengal than anywhere else” in India.
“I won’t go into anything. But how many cases of assault on women do you know from BJP-ruled states amid an enforced mass media blackout? Will the Delhi Police even allow a protest movement against such crimes in the capital?” she said.
While the mother of victim RG Kar, targeting both the Left and the TMC, has expressed her desire to contest the West Bengal polls on a BJP ticket, the party has already fielded Rekha Patra, the face of the Sandeshkhali opposition, from the Hingalganj seat.
Sabina Yasmin, mother of another alleged victim of TMC violence, Tamanna Khatun, has entered the fray as a CPI(M) candidate.
“These women have exercised their choice. But as a party TMC has a zero tolerance policy against crimes against women. The CM is herself a victim of the unspeakable abuse of the CPI(M). Our party is led by a strong group of women.
“Mamata ensured more than 30 per cent representation of women in TMC. Crimes against women are horrific and tragic and we have no intention of sweeping them under the carpet. That’s why she passed the Aparajita Bill in the state assembly to punish the perpetrators severely. Why did the Center stop this Bill,” Ms Ghose asked.
Talking about the challenges facing the TMC in the polls, Ms. Ghose said that fighting the amount of false propaganda, lies and misinformation generated from the mainstream and social media is a tough task for the party.
“During my days as a journalist, I had no idea of the extent of misinformation being spread about West Bengal. The architecture of lies and misinformation about the state is huge and it is constantly spreading. It is a formidable challenge for us,” she said.
Ms. Ghose referred to attacks on Bengali-speaking migrants in various states to support her argument.
“They have declared war on Bengali, issuing notices that Muslim residents of Delhi’s Jai Hind Colony speak ‘Bangladeshi language’, whatever that means, out of scant respect and complete ignorance of the numerous Bangla dialects spoken in the state,” she said.
“The harassment people faced due to BJP’s anti-Bengal politics and its bulldozing of an under-prepared Election Commission while conducting SIR ended up only strengthening the TMC’s position in the state,” she added.
Published – 22 March 2026 10:22 IST
