KOLKATA, Oct 4: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday organised demonstrations and burnt effigies of union rural development minister Giriraj Singh across West Bengal in protest against the detention of its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Delhi the day before.
This development marks an escalation in the ongoing conflict between the Centre and the West Bengal government over the release of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other schemes to the state.
The TMC had conducted protests in the national capital on October 2 and 3 when their leaders were detained.
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Carrying posters and placards, TMC activists in various parts of the state organised sit-ins and shouted slogans against the Union government.
At various places, they also squatted on railway tracks and burnt tyres and effigies of Giriraj Singh.
The party stated, “Peaceful protest rallies are being held across the state on Wednesday against the barbaric attitude of the BJP-led Union government. We were conducting peaceful protests, and our leaders were being assaulted and detained by police. Effigies of Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh were burnt in all the blocks of the state.”
The TMC’s youth wing, in collaboration with the main unit, also organised protest programmes in all the blocks of the state.
The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) posted on ‘X’ that the party is committed to continuing its fight and won’t let the BJP silence Bengal’s voice.
The AITC tweeted, “@BJP4India shows its true colors when voices rise against their corrupt practices and oppression. The harsh treatment that our leaders and deprived beneficiaries faced yesterday reveals their lowly strategies to the nation. Unwavering in our commitment, we won’t let the BJP silence Bengal’s VOICE.”
On Thursday, the ruling party in West Bengal will organise a march to Raj Bhavan, where it will submit “50 lakh letters from deprived MGNREGA card holders,” which it wanted to present to the Union rural development ministry on Tuesday but couldn’t.
West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee also condemned the incident as a “dark day of democracy.”
Abhishek Banerjee, along with party lawmakers, state ministers, and supporters, including MGNREGA workers, protested at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday, a day after they held a two-hour sit-in at Rajghat on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary before being evicted by police.
They later took out a march to the rural development ministry at Krishi Bhawan, where they had an appointment with Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.
However, around an hour-and-a-half after going to the Bhawan, TMC leaders claimed that the MoS refused to meet them, saying she would not meet more than five representatives.
The TMC leaders, who had brought with them bundles of letters addressed to the prime minister and the rural development minister, refused to leave until the MoS met them.
Led by Abhishek Banerjee, a group of TMC leaders sat on a dharna, which continued until around 9 pm when they were detained by police and evicted from the ministry premises. They were released later.
In response to the TMC’s protest plans, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said it was an attempt to “prolong the drama that the party had started in New Delhi.”
He added, “The TMC wanted to create a scene to garner media coverage. Their purpose has been served in New Delhi, and now they want to continue that drama in Bengal for political mileage.” (PTI)
