Ritabrata Banerjee-Led Delegation Meets CM Suvendu, Raises SIR and Loudspeaker Concerns

A 12-member delegation led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday, seeking district-level appellate tribunals for matters arising from the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The lawmakers argued that decentralised tribunals would make the appeal process more accessible to people affected by the revision exercise.

The delegation included rebel Trinamool Congress camp leader Arup Roy, former minister Firhad Hakim, Opposition Chief Whip Akhruzzaman and nine other Muslim legislators. Speaking after the meeting, Akhruzzaman said the representatives had requested the Chief Minister to facilitate appellate tribunals across the districts so that affected residents would not face unnecessary difficulty while challenging electoral-roll decisions.

The legislators also raised concerns over the removal of loudspeakers from mosques as part of the state’s enforcement of noise-pollution regulations. Opposition leaders alleged that the exercise had disproportionately affected Muslim places of worship and called for uniform implementation of the rules. Banerjee said the delegation intended to approach the Calcutta High Court after consulting legal experts.

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Chief Minister Adhikari has maintained that the government is enforcing existing court directions and has not targeted any particular religion. He said 5,299 loudspeakers had been removed from religious institutions, including 4,203 from mosques and 1,096 from temples. The Chief Minister also claimed that police had been instructed not to use force and that religious committees were cooperating with the authorities. 

The controversy had earlier reached the Union government when three rebel Trinamool Congress MPs—Yusuf Pathan, Khalilur Rahaman and Abu Taher Khan—met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submitted a memorandum. They reportedly asked the Centre to ensure that noise-control regulations were implemented without singling out a religious community or unnecessarily interfering with religious practices. 

Banerjee said the Chief Minister listened to the delegation’s demands and assured its members that the government would consider them from a humanitarian perspective. No immediate policy decision was announced following the meeting. The discussions, however, placed both the electoral-roll revision and the loudspeaker dispute at the centre of the continuing political debate between West Bengal’s government and Opposition.

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