Ahead of the surge in the suicide rates due to the pressue of SIR, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday, claimed that three to four people are dying everyday by suicide, dur to the stress and apprehension over the SIR exercise.
Addressing a programme at Red Road on birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose, she said, “More than 110 people have already died; everyday three to four people are dying by suicide out of SIR anxiety… 40 to 45 more people are fighting for their lives in hospitals. After all these years, we have to prove whether we are citizens of this country?”
“We are noticing that attempts are being made to distort the history of India… Insult, intolerance, ingratitude towards them and an affront towards language; all these lie ahead of us,” she added.
She further added that it is an unfortunate thing that Bose’ birthday is not a national holiday yet and the dreams of country’s icons are “broken to pieces.”
Notably, she made the SIR remark on Thursday as well, while inaugurating the 49th International Kolkata Book Fair.
She alleged that scores of people, including elderly citizens, are made to stand in long queues at SIR camps for hearings, often waiting in the open for five to six hours each day.
“Citing logical discrepancies, they (EC) are picking up issues like surnames of Bengalis which had been known and accepted for years,” the chief minister said.
“I am known as both Mamata Banerjee and Mamata Bandyopadhyay. In the same way, Chatterjee and Chattopadhyay are the same surname. Thakur also came to be known as Tagore during British rule,” Banerjee said.
“Our mothers cannot tell us their exact date of birth. Even (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji had told me that 25 December is not his real birthday. I have Madhyamik papers to specify my date of birth. But there are many in the earlier generations who might not have it. Why harass them?” she said.
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