‘How can Bengal election be fair when so many genuine voters are left out,’ asks Shashi Panja

This house came under attack on March 14. Did you ever think you would personally become a victim of political violence? 

We knew that the BJP is a violent party, it’s politics is very shallow. But this was a new low. It was total hooliganism and they are proud about what they did. It is shocking and humiliating because I was in my own house, my political office, and I was putting up political banners. I was clearly overpowered. What surprises me most is the cowardice. You have a lady in front of you; you can’t come running with a brick and thump it in her stomach. They did it on a day when the Prime Minister was in the city.  

You’re a senior leader in the party and three-time MLA and Minister as well. What do you think of the 2026 election and upcoming elections? And how do you think it is different from the 2021 election? 

If the BJP, which says ‘hum log aarahe hain (we will come to power)’, is so confident of winning this election, then why did you actually have to do an SIR (Special Intensive Revision)? You do a routine intensive revision like you did in Assam. Why did you have to go so deep to disenfranchise so many people? That means what you say and what you believe is so different. If you’re so confident of winning, you don’t have to adopt these measures, which is again taking away rights of the people. They put me, a three-time elected MLA, under adjudication [after SIR citing logical discrepancies and cleared eventually] with what intent? I am a registered voter. Otherwise, why would I be elected or even stand for elections? If they could logically adjudicate me, just what have they done to others? 

We can shout and scream, or we can go to court, but it takes time. Didi [Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee] went to court over SIR. People are getting harassed. But still you’re trying to cover up with a larger narrative to say, ‘Muslims hain, ghuspetiya hain’ (They are Muslims and infiltrators). You see, they [BJP-led Centre] have driven a different kind of narrative before. It was a divide between two languages, the Hindi heartland and a Bengali land. But this time it is different because we are going into an election with reduced voter strength. It is unconstitutional. Many do not know what their future is, if they will get to vote or not. Those who have been adjudicated and deleted are not even aware that they have got deleted. 

 If we take your constituency, Shyampukur in North Kolkata, about 44,000 voters have been deleted, do you think it is affecting the level playing field?

We all want free and fair elections. But where is fairness when you have got rid of so many legal voters? And regarding free elections, I mean, it’s so unfortunate. They say we do Muslim appeasement. But during Ram Navami, we saw people armed with swords, and Ram Ka Bhakti Geeti on DJ remixes. So, it is basically hyper-exhibitionism. The electorate here will not be like this. 

Even if they delete voters, if they [BJP] can lose Ayodhya [in the 2024 Lok Sabha election], they can lose anywhere. 

The Trinamool Congress has devised many women-centric schemes to cater to women voters. Can you elaborate on that? 

Lakshmi Bhandar is a scheme with a financial incentive; it is hugely popular and has reached over 2.42 crores women. It’s her money. It’s her bank account. It’s a single bank account, not a joint account with someone. It gives financial literacy and ‘samman’ (respect). Critical gaps can be addressed with that money. Something that has been copied in multiple other  States,  including the BJP-ruled ones. 

 One of the campaigns that the BJP is highlighting is crimes against women and that women are unsafe in West Bengal. Now that the BJP has fielded the mother of the R.G. Kar victim [the doctor who was raped and murdered in the State-run hospital in 2024], what kind of political messaging is it? 

I was on the ground because R.G. Kar (Hospital and Medical College) is not very far away from where I stay and also not far from my constituency. I am an alumnus of R.G. Kar. So, I have seen those days and nights when there was spontaneous outpouring of grief and sympathy for the victim. We faced all of it. 

We also faced criticism towards us. We had condemned the incident. Who would want such a thing to happen? Nobody wants it. When the mother of the victim decided to step into electoral politics on BJP ticket, we have nothing to say. It’s her choice. Even when the incident happened, we did not evade our responsibilities, most of all the CM. Kolkata Police arrested the culprit. The CBI could not unearth anything more. It was a Supreme Court-monitored CBI  investigation, and we have nothing to say. 

Within a month of the incident, the Aparajita Bill [that prescribes death penalty for rape] was introduced and got cleared by the Vidhan Sabha, but till date it has not been converted into a law because it is awaiting approval from the President. Why is that? 

The BJP is sheltering criminals who have committed crimes against women. They garlanded the rapists of Bilkis Bano [2002 Gujarat riots victim]; it is tragic that the mother of Abhaya [RG Kar victim] is expecting justice from this party. It is not about rape in my State or your State. Rape is rape. The BJP-ruled States have high numbers. We have to get our act together.  

BJP is also fighting the elections on the issue of lack of industry and flight of capital. There is dissatisfaction among people on the ground about it. What are your views? 

What investments have the Prime Minister brought on his various foreign trips? Nothing has come in. When Didi came to power in 2011, it was a very difficult time. By then, Bengal after the Left era was already branded as the place of militant unions, strikes, and major power cuts. We are trying to move past this era and change that impression. We have done multiple business summits here. It is not like industries are not here, there are. They are generating jobs. We will work on this further. 

If you come to power for the fourth time in 2026, what will be the first thing your government will want to do?

There is a lot of technology and new innovations coming up. Mamata Banerjee has a projection for that, and a land bank has been identified for it. But predominantly we are an agrarian economy, and it is also an industry that yields employment. All over the country we are talking about unemployment, we are also grappling with the problem. If the Central government paid us the money that is due to us, maybe we could have expanded our programmes here. This is an economic “strangulation”.

We have stopped giving industrial incentives because people take from us and not much is gained from it. People will come because this is the gateway to East and South-East Asia; we are very well placed geographically. We will try to do better, we are not saying we are perfect.