News Analysis India

Tag: TMC rally

  • Tripura HC rejects TMC plea to hold rally on September 22

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura High Court on Tuesday rejected a Trinamool Congress plea to hold a rally here on September 22 which was slated to be addressed by All India Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other senior party leaders.

    TMC leader Subal Bhowmik had moved the court on Monday seeking its permission to hold the mega rally after the state police on September 18 denied permission to the party to hold it.

    The matter had come up for hearing in the court of Justice Arindam Lodh on Monday and the court had issued a notice to the state government seeking to know its view for not giving permission for holding the rally.

    Advocate General Siddhartha Sankar Dey told the court on Tuesday that the district magistrate of Tripura West district has already imposed prohibitory order under Section 144 Cr PC in the sadar subdivision on September 21 till November 4 as part of the precautionary measure to prevent the third wave of the COVID pandemic.

    He said that since Durga puja is to be held from October 11 the administration does not want to allow any political rally or public gathering in Agartala in view of it.

    “Moreover, it has been observed that the city witnessed violence in the aftermath of political rallies or procession over the past two or three weeks. That’s why the prohibitory order has been clamped in the sadar subdivision,” he told the court.

    The court rejected TMC’s plea for allowing the rally after hearing both sides.

    Meanwhile, TMC leaders Kunal Ghosh, Subal Bhowmik and Prakash Das on Tuesday appeared before the officer-in-charge of the New Capital Complex police station in connection with a case relating to interference in the work of the police.

    In the course of the interrogation, Ghosh, who is the TMC spokesperson, fell sick and was shifted to a hospital.

    He is out of danger and recuperating, TMC sources said.

  • ‘Injured tiger more dangerous’: Mamata Banerjee leads TMC’s Kolkata march on wheelchair

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: True to her street fighter image, Mamata Banerjee was back on the roads of Kolkata on Sunday, four days after being injured at the hustings in Nandigram, leading a TMC march on a wheelchair and declaring an injured tiger is far more dangerous.

    Accompanied by senior TMC leaders, Banerjee was seen greeting the crowd with folded hands, with security personnel pushing her wheelchair.

    Banerjee joined the five km road show from Mayo Road to Hazra More as part of observation of Nandigram Diwas to commemorate the killing of 14 villagers in police firing during the anti-land acquisition protest in 2007.

    Banerjee is contesting the high-profile Nandigram seat for the first time against former confidante-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari, the sitting MLA, who resigned and switched over to the BJP.

    Addressing the gathering after the hour-long march, Banerjee said attempts to incapacitate her to stop her from campaigning have failed, and asserted she will canvass for TMC candidates across the state on wheelchair.

    “I have faced a lot of attacks in my life but I have never surrendered before anyone. I will never bow my head. An injured tiger gets more dangerous,” she asserted.

    ALSO READ | Mamata Banerjee calls on West Bengal to ‘never bow down to cowardice’

    Banerjee was injured in her left leg, head and chest while campaigning in Nandigram on March 10 after filing her nomination, an incident the ruling TMC claimed was a “BJP conspiracy to take her life”.

    The Election Commission, however, ruled out that there was any attack on the West Bengal chief minister and the ruling Trinamool Congress leader after reviewing the reports sent by its two special poll observers and the state government.

    The Commission concluded that Banerjee sustained injuries due to lapse on part of her security in charge.

    The poll panel Sunday ordered that Director (Security) Vivek Sahay, an IPS officer, be removed from his post and placed under suspension immediately.

    The Superintendent of Police of Purba Medinipur Pravin Prakash was also suspended, while District Magistrate Vibhu Goel was transferred.

    “Doctors advised me against going out for campaign today. But I felt that I should participate in today’s rally as we have already lost a few days due to my injury.

    “My pain is not greater than the suffering of people as democracy is being trampled through dictatorship. If I sit at home for such a long time that will serve the agenda of the conspirators. They will be successful,” the fiesty TMC supremo said.

    Banerjee said she chose Hazra as the point to end the Kolkata rally as she had been subjected to “many physical attacks at this spot” in her political career.

    TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, her nephew, said at the start of the rally his party will not bow before “outsiders” and asserted she will win the election battle no matter what challenges are thrown before her.

    He also urged people to put up a united fight against the CPI(M) and its ally, the Congress, and claimed that the communist regime had perpetrated atrocities on the poor farmers of the state, citing the Nandigram movement of 2007.

    “We will not bow before the BJP, we will not bow before the outsiders,” he asserted.

    Shouting slogans such as ‘Modi babu ashe Modi babu Jay, Bangla nijer meyeke chay’ (PM Modi may come and go, Bengal wants its daughter to rule the state), the Diamond Harbour MP said, “Despite her serious foot injury, our leader has joined the rally. She will conquer the battle with her broken foot.”

    Carrying posters and placards hailing Banerjee as the “daughter of Bengal”, TMC supporters raised slogans against the BJP and called for “defeating the outsiders” in the assembly elections.

    The TMC activists also chanted the slogan “Bhanga Paye Khela Hobe!” (Will play with broken leg), a reference to Banerjee’s leg injury.

    “We will continue to fight boldly! I’m still in a lot of pain, but I feel the pain of my people even more. In this fight to protect our revered land, we have suffered a lot and will suffer more but we will NEVER bow down to COWARDICE!” Banerjee had earlier tweeted minutes before arriving for the march.

  • Bengal will never bow down before outsiders: TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee attacks BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday said his party will not bow down before “outsiders”, and asserted that his aunt and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will win the election battle, no matter what challenges are thrown before her.

    The TMC, which has made ‘Bengali pride’ its core poll plank, has tagged the BJP as a “party of outsiders”, as its top leaders hail from outside the state.

    The TMC MP, who took part in a rally here, also urged people to put up a united fight against the CPI(M) and its ally, the Congress, and claimed that the communist regime had perpetrated atrocities on the poor peasants of the state, citing the Nandigram movement of 2007.

    “We will not bow down before the BJP, we will not bow down before the outsiders,” he said at the start of the rally, which was attended by Mamata Banerjee on a wheel chair.

    The CM had sustained severe injuries during electioneering in Nandigram, where she has crossed swords with her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari.

    ALSO READ | ‘Injured tiger more dangerous’: Mamata Banerjee leads TMC’s Kolkata march on wheelchair

    Shouting slogans such as ‘Modi babu ashe Modi babu Jay, Bangla nijer meyeke chay’ (PM Modi may come and go, Bengal wants its daughter to rule the state), the Diamond Harbour MP said, “Despite her serious foot injury, our leader has joined the rally. She will conquer the battle notwithstanding her injuries.”

  • Mamata Banerjee calls on West Bengal to ‘never bow down to cowardice’

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that despite being in pain she will continue to fight boldly and called on people to ‘never bow down to cowardice’.

    “We will continue to fight boldly! I’m still in a lot of pain, but I feel the pain of my people even more. In this fight to protect our revered land, we have suffered a lot and will suffer more but we will NEVER bow down to COWARDICE!,” tweeted Mamata Banerjee.

    Banerjee is conducting a roadshow, days after sustaining injuries during election campaigning, on a wheelchair from Gandhi Murti to Hazra here today, Trinamool Congress (TMC) party sources said. She is scheduled to address a public rally at Hazra this afternoon.

    It is her first public appearance after she was allegedly attacked by some people in Nandigram earlier this week.

    On March 10, the Chief Minister alleged that she was pushed by a few unidentified people during her election campaigning. Later, she was brought to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital by road from Nandigram.

    Banerjee sustained “severe bone injuries” on her left foot and ankle as well as bruises and injuries on her shoulder, forearm and neck, according to the report of her initial medical examination.

    The Chief Minister was discharged from the hospital on March 12.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

    Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

  • After TMC rally, now ‘Goli maaro’ slogan raised at roadshow led by BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari

    By PTI
    CHANDAN NAGAR: At a rally led by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Chandannagar city, the provocative “goli maaro” slogan was raised on Wednesday.

    The slogan — “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro” (shoot the traitors) — was raised by a few BJP cadres, carrying the party flag along with the Indian tricolour while they were trailing a truck carrying Adhikari and Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee in the Rathtala area of the city.

    They claimed that the slogan was aimed at the traitors of the country “some of whom are in the Trinamool Congress”.

    State BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the party does not endorse these kind of slogans.

    On Tuesday, a similar slogan was raised at a Trinamool Congress rally in south Kolkata with party activists calling for “shooting” the traitors of Bengal, in an apparent reference to the leaders who have switched over to the BJP.

    The BJP spokesperson said that the slogan raised at the Chandannagar rally was aimed at terrorists, plotting against the country, while the Trinamool Congressmen openly threatened the leaders who have left the party, branding them as traitors.

    “There is a difference between the two incidents but we disapprove of such slogans in our rally,” Bhattacharya said, refusing to specify if action will be taken against those who raised the slogan.

    Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that though he condemns the slogan raised at the south Kolkata rally, the BJP needs to answer whether it wants to shoot the people opposed to its ideology.

    “The BJP men are asking the Army to shoot the traitors. Does the BJP want to shoot the people opposed to their ideology?” he said.

    In March last year, three BJP “supporters” were arrested for raising the provocative slogan while heading to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally in Kolkata.

  • TMC distances itself from ‘goli maaro’ slogan raised by party supporters

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A day after a few TMC supporters chanted the slogan ‘Bangal ke gaddaro ko, goli maro saalo ko’ (shoot the traitors of Bengal) during a rally here, the ruling party in Bengal on Wednesday distanced itself from the rhetoric, and rebuked the activists who raised it.

    Describing the slogan as “excessive exuberance” on the part of some young supporters, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh stated that the party does not endorse it.

    “Such a slogan should not have been raised from the rally. Those who raised it have not done the right thing. The words ‘goli maro’ should not be taken literally,” he said.

    Several TMC supporters had chanted the controversial slogan on Tuesday during a peace rally in south Kolkata, which was also attended by two state cabinet ministers.

    A similar slogan ‘desh ke gaddaro ko, goli maro saalo ko’ (shoot the traitors of the nation) — by a BJP leader in Delhi in January 2020 had triggered a massive row in the country, with the TMC among other parties vociferously criticising him.

    BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, recalling the episode last year, said the saffron party, back then, was in the eye of the storm, and now the TMC has raised a similar slogan.

    “The TMC has introduced the culture of guns and bombs in state politics. Now they are openly acknowledging it at their rallies,” Ghosh said.

    Echoing him, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said this is the culture that is long being pursued by the TMC in Bengal.

    CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty claimed that both the BJP and the TMC are indulging in “destructive politics and hampering peace in the state”.

    The TMC’s peace rally had on Tuesday traversed the route that the BJP had taken a day before during its roadshow, which witnessed clashes between workers of the two political parties.

    Accusing the BJP of instigating TMC activists at its roadshow on Monday, state minister Arup Biswas also claimed that the saffron party supporters, in a fit of rage, assaulted common people near Charu Market area.

    The BJP, however, claimed that TMC workers, with party flags in hands, brick-batted its supporters.