Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee flags off Left groups' jatha programme

Kolkata: Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday flagged off a jatha (march) by 113 Left organisations across the state with an eye to intensifying mass contact ahead of next year's assembly polls.

Small groups of Left activists would go around all polling booths in the state in support of a 15-point programme that includes protests against the "growing intolerance" in the country and "attacks on democratic rights" in the state.

The rallies, conducted under the banner of the Bengal Platform of Mass Organisations (BPMO) -- an umbrella body of Left parties and other outfits -- would continue till November 30. Small group meetings and street corners will be held as part of the programme.

Charging the BJP and the Trinamool Congress with spreading communalism and intolerance, the Left leadership said the agitation was aimed at extending direct contact with the masses.