Kolkata, Jul 20 (PTI) TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that her faction of the party was being prevented from holding meetings and processions ahead of its annual July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally, saying supporters were nevertheless travelling to Kolkata “out of affection” to attend the programme.
The former chief minister made the remarks after inspecting preparations at the Birla Planetarium area in central Kolkata, where her camp has been permitted to hold its rally following a Calcutta High Court order.
“Our meetings and processions are not being allowed. Workers coming from distant districts are not even being given places to stay. Yet they are coming out of affection,” Banerjee told reporters.
This year’s July 21 observance has acquired an unprecedented political dimension, with three programmes scheduled around the anniversary of the 1993 police firing in which 13 Youth Congress workers were killed during a march to the Writers’ Buildings.
Besides Banerjee’s faction, the rebel TMC led by Ritabrata Banerjee is also holding its own July 21 programme, claiming to represent the “real” Trinamool Congress, while the Congress has separately decided to commemorate the anniversary, asserting that those killed in the police firing were Youth Congress activists before Mamata Banerjee founded the TMC in 1998.
The political contest over the legacy of July 21 intensified further on Monday after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari tabled in the Assembly the long-withheld report of the Justice (retd) Sushanta Chatterjee Commission on the 1993 firing.
The BJP government accused the previous TMC regime of suppressing the report after receiving it in 2014 and using the incident for political mobilisation without implementing the commission’s recommendations, including enhanced compensation for the victims’ families.
Banerjee’s visit to the rally venue came against this backdrop, as her camp sought to reinforce its claim over a political event that has remained central to her mass mobilisation for more than three decades.
The Calcutta High Court had declined permission for the programme at its usual Esplanade venue and instead allowed Banerjee’s faction to hold the rally near Birla Planetarium, subject to conditions including maintaining traffic movement, limiting the meeting to between noon and 3.30 pm, and ensuring law and order.
Preparations at the venue were almost complete when Banerjee inspected the stage and interacted with party leaders, including Kunal Ghosh and Dola Sen, who have been overseeing arrangements.
Heavy rain earlier in the day briefly disrupted preparations, soaking parts of the wooden stage, though work continued.
Meanwhile, TMC MLA Nayana Bandyopadhyay faced protests from a section of workers during her visit to the venue, with slogans raised against her husband, former senior leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay who has since left Banerjee’s camp.
Responding to the protest, Nayana Bandyopadhyay distanced herself from the MP.
“Ask him in Delhi. Am I responsible for him?” she said, adding, “Mamata’s call inspired everyone to join the movement. People took bullets. TMC means Mamata.” This year’s three-way observance underlines how July 21, long synonymous with Mamata Banerjee’s politics, has itself become the latest battleground in West Bengal’s fractured political landscape, with rival claimants seeking to appropriate the legacy of the 1993 firing. PTI PNT NN
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