West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Credit: PTI Photo
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that at least 110 people have died because of stress and panic over the SIR exercise in the state so far.
Inaugurating the 49th International Kolkata Book Fair here, she said that her 162nd book, a compilation of 26 poems on the agony faced by people due to the SIR, will come out in this edition of the fair.
Scores of people, including elderly ones, have to line up at Special Intensive Revision (SIR) camps for hearing, and wait for five-six hours in the open every day, Banerjee said.
"By the name of 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,” she said.
Had Rabindranath Tagore been around, probably he would have faced the same situation now, Banerjee said.
Noting that any parents with multiple children are being asked to explain their age gaps, she said proof of births are demanded from elderly people.
"Our mothers cannot tell us their exact date of birth. Even (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji had told me that December 25 is not his real birthday. I have Madhyamik (class 10 state board exam) 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.