'SIR-affected families threatened': Ahead of meeting with CEC, Mamata's showdown with Delhi cops

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday confronted police personnel deployed outside the Banga Bhawan in Delhi and alleged harassment of the families affected by the SIR exercise in her state.

Police said security arrangements in the area have been stepped up after the incident.

Addressing reporters, she claimed that people from West Bengal who were staying at Banga Bhawan were being "threatened" and questioned the heavy police deployment. She added, however, that she doesn't blame police, but "those who are on the top".

Banerjee, who arrived in Delhi on Sunday, reached the West Bengal government's guest house, ahead of her scheduled meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the eastern state.

She was seen directly confronting the security personnel outside the building, asserting that she was in the national capital for justice to the families that suffered during SIR, and not for an agitation.

"People from Bengal are being threatened in Banga Bhawan… Our case is going on in the Supreme Court, we have a meeting at the Election Commission. We are here with an official appointment… People have died, can their families not talk to the media?" Banerjee said while talking to reporters.

The chief minister said, "Many families are here who have been impacted by the SIR process. Delhi police have been deployed everywhere the SIR-affected families are staying. Where is the Delhi Police when a blast happens in Delhi?"

"But I don't blame the Delhi Police, I blame those who are on the top. This is incompetence... They can't protect the nation, they torture Bengal and the common people, and are committing atrocities in the name of SIR," she alleged.

"They get nervous when I come here… I could have brought lakhs of people," Banerjee said.

Claiming that Delhi has become "like a Zamindari", she said it has no place for the poor.

Banerjee was earlier seen approaching the police personnel, and said, "I am not here for an agitation; if I was here for an agitation, you would have lost your mind." She also said the Delhi Police should not bother the SIR-affected families that have come to the city.

"We are here for justice…" she said.

Police presence was increased in Banga Bhawan in Chanakyapuri and Mandi House with personnel stationed at multiple points near the premises, police said, without elaborating on specific security arrangements.

Banerjee has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ongoing SIR of the electoral rolls in West Bengal.