For many who lost their votes in SIR, the ordeal has just begun. Hundreds are being herded into detention camps rechristened as 'holding centres'. Children, women, old and ailing people are being forcibly pushed across the India-Bangladesh border only to be pushed back by the Bangladesh border forces. From voteless, they have now become stateless. Many others who may not yet have come close to this line of detention and deportation, have started losing a whole range of rights and cash transfer benefits.
Across the state, bulldozers are on the rampage, demolishing houses and shops, evicting millions of people from their homes and livelihoods. Without any rehabilitation, often without any notice, bulldozers are arriving at night to uproot and dislocate people and destroy livelihoods. In station after station, colony after colony, this is now the harsh reality for the urban poor and toiling masses in the greater Kolkata region. Life has become utterly uncertain and insecure for tens of thousands of railway hawkers, street vendors, small shopkeepers.
At one single stroke, OBC reservation in the state has been reduced from 17 to 7 percent. Every caste certificate issued since 2011 is now subject to mandatory recertification. Indigenous people too are being sought to be divided on the basis of religion. The BJP is now bent upon turning the constitutional right to reservation that belonged to all socially and educationally backward groups into an exclusive Hindu right.
The pain is certainly not being felt by all. There are many who are ready to justify and welcome this pain being inflicted on the socially and economically deprived as a necessary price for 'progress' or 'development'. The dominant media is busy manufacturing consent for 'bulldozer raj'. Many who are not yet cheering for the rampaging bulldozer as the new symbol of governance are willing to wait and watch. Meanwhile, the BJP washing machine is working overtime. Ousted from power, the TMC establishment is now clearly vulnerable to the BJP's tried and tested 'carrot and stick' strategy and the 'Operation Lotus' dynamics. From panchayat and municipality level representatives to MLAs and MPs, the swelling numbers of TMC turncoats now appear to have reduced the official TMC to a minority.
With the TMC turncoats making a beeline for the BJP, a Congress-TMC rapprochement is now very much visible and understandable. It, of course, remains to be seen if and how the TMC-Congress bloc reinvents itself as an opposition on the ground. The imperative before the Left in West Bengal is to get its act together as the tribune of the crisis-ridden toiling people of the state at this critical juncture. The energy witnessed in the anti-eviction resistance campaign of the united Left is quite encouraging. The initiative unleashed by activists of the CPI(ML) and civil society groups and human rights organisations to reach out to the disenfranchised people of West Bengal is another important step. As the BJP government unleashes its divisive and deceptive agenda and bares its repressive fangs, the Left must be there on the ground with the people at every step.
The unprecedented scale of the BJP's victory in West Bengal is a result of several factors. There are unmistakable elements of electoral fraud along the entire election process right from the preparation of electoral roll to the counting of votes and declaration of results. But more ominous is the BJP's actual growth on the ground and its ability to channelise the anger of the people against the TMC misrule towards the Sangh brigade's Hindutva agenda. We remember how in the wake of the Gujarat carnage of 2002, Narendra Modi turned Gujarat elections into an anti-Pakistan vote. The BJP in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal is working on a similar strategy using Bangladesh, particularly the growing influence of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh politics, as a constant target of attack.
The challenge before the Left and democratic forces of West Bengal is to defeat this communal design of the BJP. The answer lies in upholding the class interests that combine Hindus and Muslims, advancing the agenda of social justice that concerns every deprived and marginalised group, strengthening the inclusive culture that has sustained and empowered generations in the region since the colonial period. The BJP's attempt to turn the festive occasion of Eid into a theatre of hate and conflict failed quite spectacularly when the predominantly Hindu cattle-traders and dairy farmers of West Bengal rose against the cattle slaughter ban. The syncretic culture of West Bengal has been rooted in close ties of economic interdependence and social coexistence that defied every attempt to divide the people on communal lines. In the early years after partition, the Left in West Bengal grew through the struggles for agrarian reforms, refugee rehabilitation, equitable education, and dignity and security for the oppressed and the marginalised. Electoral victories and a prolonged stint in power came riding on this basic identity and strength of the communist movement. Today once again communists will have to fight back by summoning this basic strength and glorious legacy.
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CPI(ML) Liberation has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Calcutta High Court on June 19 challenging the unconstitutional declaration of re-verification of all caste certificates issued to Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs in Bengal over the last fifteen years [WPA(P)/304/2026].
The petitioners in this case, on behalf of the Party, are State Secretary Abhijit Majumdar and State Committee member Malay Tewari. The party has stated that having completed the "SIR to snatch voting rights," the BJP government is now launching an "SIR to snatch reservation rights."
Instead of properly implementing the existing process of scrutinising fake certificates and conducting vigilance, genuine SC-ST citizens are being subjected to interrogation and harassment.
In effect, the BJP-RSS wants to undermine the identity of the entire young generation of the Dalit-Adivasi-Bahujan community, and the constitutional rights resting upon that identity.
Linking inclusion or exclusion of a name in the SIR as a condition for caste certificate verification is also completely illegal.
- CPI(ML), WB State Committee
CPIML MP Demands Immediate Halt to Railway Eviction Drives against Hawkers in West Bengal
CPI(ML) Liberation Lok Sabha MP from Arrah and Member of the Standing Committee on Railways, Sudama Prasad, has written to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw strongly opposing the indiscriminate eviction of railway hawkers from platforms and station premises across West Bengal without any rehabilitation. In his letter dated June 4, Sudama Prasad registered strong protest and deep concern on behalf of concerned citizens, organisations, unions and representatives of railway hawkers and informal workers of West Bengal.
He said that for decades, thousands of small hawkers, tea sellers, book vendors, food vendors and petty traders have earned their livelihood in and around railway stations through honest labour. These workers, he said, are an integral part of the railway ecosystem and provide affordable services to lakhs of passengers every day.
Sudama Prasad pointed out that many of these hawkers come from economically vulnerable sections, including Scheduled Castes, minorities, women-headed families and migrant workers, and their families are entirely dependent on these occupations for survival.
The CPI(ML) MP said the ongoing eviction drive is being carried out in an arbitrary and inhuman manner, without any rehabilitation programme, alternative vending arrangement, social security protection or meaningful consultation with the affected families. Such action, he said, is pushing thousands of people towards starvation and unemployment.
He expressed serious concern that while poor traditional hawkers are being removed in the name of “modernisation” and “beautification”, railway station premises are increasingly being handed over to large commercial chains and corporate retail outlets such as Big Bazaar, Spencer’s, Kalyan Jewellers and Pizza Hut.
In his letter to the Railway Minister, Sudama Prasad demanded an immediate halt to all eviction drives against railway hawkers in West Bengal until a transparent and humane rehabilitation policy is formulated. He also demanded recognition of the livelihood rights of traditional railway hawkers and vendors through formal certification.
The letter further called for a comprehensive rehabilitation package, including alternative vending zones, licensing mechanisms, financial assistance and social security measures. Sudama Prasad also demanded the constitution of a consultative committee comprising representatives of hawkers’ organisations, trade unions and civil society groups to devise a fair and inclusive policy. He also underlined that the constitutional right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution must be protected.
Sudama Prasad urged the Railway Minister to intervene immediately and ensure that Indian Railways adopts a humane, democratic and socially responsible approach. He said the Railways must not deepen inequality and economic distress among the poor, and called upon the Ministry to take urgent corrective measures and initiate dialogue with all affected stakeholders.
