Protest Day In Kolkata: With Mamata Banerjee And Abhishek, BJP-Congress-Left To Compete For Recognition Today

Bengal Politics: Kolkata's public life is likely to be severely disrupted by numerous demonstrations from all political perspectives in the state today.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, is prepared to start her two-day sit-in protest in Kolkata at midday on Wednesday to denounce the BJP-led Union government's allegedly discriminatory treatment of her state. However, that is not the only commotion planned for the metropolis on Wednesday. On a busy workday, Kolkata's public life is likely to be severely disrupted by numerous demonstrations from all political perspectives in the state. Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of Trinamool, would be speaking at a public gathering at the Shahid Minar grounds on the same topic as Mamata's sit-in demonstration, just a few hundred metres from where Mamata would be holding her dharna in front of a statue of Dr. B R Ambedkar on Red Road in central Calcutta. 

The gathering, which is co-organized by the Trinamool Youth Congress and the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad and is set to begin, is intended to express opposition to the Center's claimed withholding of funds and its "anti-people policies." The state BJP unit has planned a parallel dharna at Shyambazar in north Calcutta because they don't want to let the Trinamool receive all of the day's media attention. The rally has been planned to protest "massive corruption in public recruitment and looting of central funds by the Trinamool Congress" and is set to start at Metro Station Gate No. 1. Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition, Sukanta Majumdar, Dilip Ghosh, Indranil Khan, the state's youth president, and other prominent BJP members like Rahul Sinha, Agnimitra Paul, Shankar Ghosh, and Priyanka Tibrewal are expected to attend. 

THE STAGE IS SET!

Moments to go before we hear our National General Secretary Shri @abhishekaitc raise his voice LOUD & CLEAR from Shaheed Minar.#ShaheedMinarCholo pic.twitter.com/heObahzGUd

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) March 29, 2023

A protest march against the "unjust and unfair rejection of Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership" has also been organised by the Bengal Pradesh Congress. According to the party, the demonstration would also draw attention to the "Modi-Adani anti-national relationship" and call for an investigation into the Adani case by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The PCC leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will lead the procession, which will leave the party's Moulali headquarters at 3:00 pm and travel up to Park Circus. 

The CPM has also organised a rally to protest the "corruption" in state schemes, not wanting to be left behind. The procession will begin at Ram Lila Park in Moulali, travel through AJC Boase Road, and end at Park Circus. Mamata Banerjee, leader of Trinamool, has frequently claimed that the Central government has withheld funding for the state's MGNREGA project and other initiatives of its housing and road departments. "The Centre has ceased releasing funds for Indira Awas Yojana and MGNREGA. Additionally, it no longer offers scholarships to OBC pupils", she added on Tuesday as she unveiled a plan to build 12,000 km of rural roads. 

In announcing the "Pathashree-Rastashree" programme ahead of the upcoming panchayat elections, Mamata stated that the state, not the Central government, would be responsible for paying the entire cost of Rs 3.75 thousand crores for building the rural roadways. "Even though West Bengal topped the list of states in finishing the work under the initiative, the Center has not released over Rs 7,000 crores that are still owed under the MGNREGA scheme and has not provided work to our people... We think politics or envy may be the cause of this," she said. She had earlier claimed that West Bengal had not gotten its due from the Centre and that the eastern state had received nothing from this year's budget. 

Therefore, Mamata continued, "I, as the chief minister, will conduct a sit-in demonstration in front of the statue of Dr. B R Ambedkar in Kolkata from March 29 and continuing until the evening of March 30 in protest against the Centre's discrimination against West Bengal."