Bengal man allegedly dies by suicide over NRC, Mamata Banerjee blames BJP’s ‘politics of fear’

A 57-year-old man in West Bengal allegedly died by suicide on Tuesday, leaving behind a note that said that the National Register of Citizens was responsible for his death, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

The man, Pradeep Kar, was found dead at his home in Panihati in North 24 Parganas district, PTI quoted Barrackpore Police Commissioner Muralidhar Sharma as saying.

Sharma said that a diary was recovered from Kar’s house in which “NRC is responsible for my death” was written in one of the pages, The Indian Express reported.

Kar’s family said that he had been “restless” since the Election Commission announced a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the state, Sharma told The Indian Express.

On Monday, the poll body announced that the exercise would be carried out in 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal, where Assembly elections are expected to take place in 2026. The draft rolls will be published on December 9, and the final list on February 7, 2026.

While Kar was born and raised in West Bengal, his father had migrated from Bangladesh, The Indian Express reported.

Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of spreading fear about the NRC and said the alleged suicide was an indictment of “BJP’s politics of fear and division”.

“It shakes me to the very core to imagine how, for years, BJP has...

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