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More than Didi vs BJP/EC/SIR, it’s Didi vs Didi: In silences, you also hear talk of ektu poriborton
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More than Didi vs BJP/EC/SIR, it’s Didi vs Didi: In silences, you also hear talk of ektu poriborton

The Indian Express·Vandita Mishra, Sweety Kumari·about 1 month ago
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In this West Bengal election, as the pitch is raised high and higher, Mamata Banerjee paints herself ranged against an array of collusive outsiders — the formidable machinery of the BJP-led Centre plus an Election Commission it appears to bend and control; the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that has sparked fears of large-scale disenfranchisement plus security forces brought on an unprecedented scale to oversee the Bengal election. The BJP-controlled System in Delhi vs “Didi” in Bengal: There is truth in that framing, certainly. The SIR deletions, in particular—about 91 lakh voters in all—have raised fears of targeted exclusion. But on the ground, listen to the voters, and you can also hear the sounds of a different election: Here, Didi isn’t a victim, she is the System. She, the uprooter of the Left, is the provider of cash transfers and welfare schemes. This second contest may be playing out not so much as Didi vs SIR/EC/BJP. It is, more, Didi vs Didi.…

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