Martyrs' Day: With eye on 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC plans massive expansion

Kolkata: After a landslide victory in the recently concluded state assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party is observing Martyrs’ Day on Wednesday (July 21, 2021) harbouring big political ambitions to take on Narendra Modi-powered BJP in 2024 polls.

The day – July 21 – holds political significance for the party since it was on this day in 1993 that 13 people were shot by the Bengal Police in Kolkata during a rally by West Bengal Youth Congress under Mamata Banerjee. Since then, Mamata Banerjee and her party has been observing July 21 as the TMC Martyrs’ Day.   

However, according to the political pundits, using Martyrs’ Day as a platform, the ruling TMC is trying to spread its wings in different states, with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Senior TMC leader Madan Mitra had said that TMC will enter national politics and form government in Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. “TMC is going to enter national politics through virtual programmes on July 21. Giant screens will come up in Tripura, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, Punjab, UP and Delhi on July 21. In 2024, there will be Mamata government in Delhi,” Mitra said.

My heartfelt tribute to the 13 innocent lives that were lost on this day in 1993. I urge all my brothers & sisters to join me today at 2PM in a virtual meet to honor the brave souls.

Our voices against those committing inhumane atrocities shall keep growing louder.#ShahidDibas — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 21, 2021

As a part of its expansion programme, the party has decided to virtually telecast the speech of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the occasion of Martyrs` Day in various languages, and in different states.

"The Chief Minister will address the people virtually for the second consecutive year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In West Bengal, the speech will be aired in Bengali, while the translated versions in various languages will be telecast in different states.

"The speech will be telecast on giant screens across West Bengal, and for the first time, also in other states like Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Punjab, Tripura and poll-bound Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh," a senior Trinamool leader said.

According to political experts, Trinamool Congress, after its victory in the recent Assembly polls, had decided to reach out to the people across the nation. The Chief Minister`s nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee, after taking charge as the party`s all-India General Secretary, had vowed to spread Trinamool`s wings in other states to achieve a pan-India presence.

"(Narendra) Modi and (Amit) Shah had taken the lead in BJP`s campaign during the West Bengal elections. Now, it`s our turn to spread Didi`s (Banerjee`s) message in Gujarat and other states," the Trinamool leader had said.

The party is also planning similar programmes in Uttar Pradesh, which will also go to the polls next year. Also, Banerjee`s Martyrs` Day speech will be aired in Delhi, Punjab and Tripura where through giant screens.

From Agartala to Amritsar, arrangements are being made across cities for the Trinamool chief to reach out to a pan-national audience. The party is also determined to make inroads in down South as graffitis portraying Banerjee as ‘Amma’ (mother) are already dotting the walls of Tamil Nadu.

Banerjee has said that she will visit New Delhi for a few days after the July 21 programme to meet "old and new friends". She also plans to go to the Parliament, which will be in session then, and hold parleys with the senior leaders.

She herself has admitted that she has plans to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind if she gets an appointment, besides having a meeting with interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Her impending Delhi visit comes at a time when the buzz of a renewed push for a rainbow coalition of opposition parties to challenge the BJP in the 2024 general elections is doing rounds in the national capital.

Party sources said that the Trinamool has planned to expand organisationally in Tripura and has already started the process of bringing some eminent personalities of the northeastern state into its fold.

A senior Trinamool leader said, "We are already in negotiations with some important leaders in Tripura. Changes are visible in the state and we will soon come out with a specific report (on its plan of action in Tripura). "Our journey at the national level will make a fresh start with the July 21 Martyrs` Day virtual rally." We all wait for July 21. This time the win is for Bengal but Mamata Banerjee, by winning this match, has set the tone for 2024.”

On completing 28 years of Martyrs’ Day, Mamata Banerjee is also expected to sound the poll bugle, setting the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha mega clash with BJP.