“He was more than a brother to me, he was my father, my guardian,” said Tapan Kar, pausing to wipe away a tear. Life changed forever for the Kar family after the Election Commission of India announced the rollout of the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on October 27. A day later, Tapan’s elder brother, Pradip Kar, a resident of Bengal’s Panihati, died by suicide. A note was recovered from his bed after police broke into his room and recovered his body on October 28.
In his note, Pradip reportedly blamed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the SIR process for his decision. Tapan, who suffers from a heart ailment, struggled to steady himself as he spoke. Clutching his chest, he said, “He carried the weight of our entire family all his life. I lost my parents when I was very young. My brother raised me and now he too is gone.”
Following Pradip’s death, a political storm erupted in Bengal. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “spreading lies, panic, and insecurity” over the rollout of SIR. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned what she called the Centre’s “venomous propaganda,” describing Pradip’s death as “a tragic indictment of the BJP’s politics of fear and division.”
The BJP, however, hit back, dismissing the allegations as “baseless” and accusing the TMC of “manufacturing fear” to consolidate its vote bank. Party leaders including Leader of Opposition Suvednu Adhikari, Member of Parliament Dr Sukanta Mazumdar, also questioned the narrative around Pradip’s death, claiming that as an unmarried man, he had “no reason to feel threatened” by the SIR process.
“How dare they say my brother had no family? What are we then? Did we not love him, care for him?” cried an anguished Tapan Kar. In the days since his brother’s death, Tapan has been struggling not only with grief but also with the glare of an unrelenting media. After Pradip’s suicide note blaming the NRC and SIR went viral, some reports claimed he could not have written it himself as he had lost fingers on his right hand. Tapan refuted this firmly. “My brother had two partially severed fingers, his index and middle finger, but he could write. He studied till Class Four and sometimes made spelling mistakes, but he signed our house registration papers as recent as March this year,” he said. “He loved cooking too, he made khichri for Saraswati Puja . He would all household chores with his right hand. He even cooked at home just a couple of days before he died. How could he have done all this if he didn’t have fingers?” he added, confirming the handwriting on the suicide note was indeed his brother’s.
The relentless media attention has taken a heavy toll on the family. Since Pradip’s death, the Kars have moved in with relatives to escape the scrutiny. “His ‘sraadh’ ceremony is on Friday. I can’t even step out without being hounded by cameras and questions. I’ve lost my brother, and I haven’t even had the time to grieve,” Tapan said softly. “All I ask is, please let my brother rest in peace. He was a sound man. Give him some dignity in death. Give us the space to grieve, the pain is too deep to bear,” he pleaded, folding his hands as his voice quivered.
West Bengal has reported a string of suicides and suicide attempts since the announcement of the SIR process on Monday. Pradip took his life on Tuesday , a day after 63-year-old Khairul Sheikh from Coochbehar allegedly attempted suicide by consuming poison, fearing the fallout of the revision exercise. In another incident, 95-year-old Khitish Chandra Majumdar died by suicide on Thursday. His family said he had been living in constant fear after discovering that his name was missing from the 2002 voters’ list. These successive deaths have sparked concern and debate across the state, underscoring how the SIR rollout has triggered widespread fear and uncertainty among citizens.
The political face-off over the SIR has further intensified Bengal’s already charged atmosphere. The ruling Trinamool Congress has accused the Election Commission of “weaponising” the National Register of Citizens under the guise of the SIR exercise, a move it says is intended to create fear and confusion among voters ahead of the next election. The BJP has countered this narrative, arguing that the SIR is a routine electoral process, and that persecuted Hindus migrating to India before December 31, 2024, need not fear for their citizenship under the provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Amid this growing political tug-of-war, families like the Kars are left to navigate their grief in silence. The debate may continue in television studios and political rallies, but for Tapan Kar, the loss is deeply personal and irreversible. “Politics can wait,” he said quietly. “My brother is gone. That’s all that matters to me”, he retired.
