A day after Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee was attacked, a meeting of the party's newly elected legislators failed to take off as only 20 of the 80 MLAs turned up at Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat residence. The absence of nearly three-fourths of the legislators raised eyebrows. However, the TMC was quick to dismiss concerns, saying several MLAs were busy organising ground protests against the authorities over alleged political violence and therefore could not attend the meeting.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said many legislators could not attend the meeting because of developments on the ground following Saturday's attack on Abhishek Banerjee and the alleged assault on party MP Kalyan Banerjee a day later.
Speaking to reporters outside former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat residence, where the meeting was due to be held, Ghosh said the party had instead decided to intensify its protest programme over the next 48 hours against the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government. He also announced block-level and ward-level rallies on Monday, followed by a day-long sit-in in central Kolkata on Tuesday to be led by Mamata Banerjee.
Ghosh said the meeting had been fixed in advance, but the attacks on the party's leaders had led MLAs to organise protests in different areas. He said police action had then been taken against TMC workers, and several legislators who could not attend were occupied with handling the situation locally and helping workers who had been arrested.
According to Ghosh, those MLAs informed the legislative party about the developments and asked whether the meeting could be postponed for the time being. He said the party accepted what he described as a valid request and decided to call off the meeting for now, even though around 20 MLAs had already reached the venue for the 3 pm meeting.
He said the meeting would be held later and that the revised details would be communicated to all MLAs. Ghosh added that all the party's legislators had conveyed that they stood firmly with the organisation during this period. Party sources said that despite the low attendance, Mamata Banerjee held informal discussions with those who were present.
Announcing the party's next steps, Ghosh said leaders had been told to hold protest rallies on Monday at the block level in rural areas and in municipal wards in urban parts of the state. He said the rallies would protest against the attacks on Abhishek Banerjee, Kalyan Banerjee and party workers, whom he described as targets of post-poll terror by the BJP.
Ghosh, who is also the TMC MLA from Beleghata, said the party would then hold a one-day symbolic sit-in on Tuesday at the Rani Rashmoni Road protest site in Esplanade. He said the protest, to be led by Mamata Banerjee, would be against the continuing post-poll violence and the eviction of hawkers through the use of bulldozers across the state. He added that the party's next political programme would be announced from the dharna venue on June 2.
The cancellation of the legislative party meeting, the informal consultations at Kalighat and the announcement of a fresh round of protests marked the TMC's response to the attacks on its leaders and the action taken against its workers, with the party now set to take its campaign to the streets over the next two days.
Source: India Today
