Buoyed by the twin High Court verdicts allowing the Bengal BJP to hold its Wednesday rally at a spot long monopolised by the Trinamool Congress, the BJP is pulling out all stops to ensure a massive turnout in front of Home Minister Amit Shah who is expected to be the main speaker. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is organising the mega-rally in front of Victoria House in Esplanade on November 29, the same venue in which the Trinamool Congress has been holding its annual Martyrs’ Day rally on July 21 since 1994.
BJP leaders are holding rallies in Kolkata and in the district headquarters to drum up support for Wednesday’s rally which is being seen as an opportunity, as well as a challenge, test the party’s ground strength in Bengal as it plans to take on the ruling Trinamool in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Party sources said that since they were apprehending that Trinamool Congress cadre, aided by the State police, would put up obstacles to prevent BJP supporters from reaching the city, the party had booked eight trains to ferry its supporters. These trains will bring in supporters from the western and northern parts of the State from which the BJP has won the maximum seats in the last Assembly elections.
Bengal BJP leader and the leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has stretched the purview of the meeting beyond the party’s support base. Adhikari, in a video message, has extended the rally’s invitation as the leader of the Opposition. He has asked people – not only the party workers and supporters – who have faced “atrocities” and “deprivation” to come forward and register their protest in a democratic, and peaceful way. Adhikari has claimed presence of rampant corruption in different sectors, and deprivation, and has asked people from different sections of society to participate for their rights.
The party is planning to keep drop-boxes at different places near the rally site in which people who had grievances against the Mamata Banerjee Government, can drop their complaints.A message, addressed to people, has also been released by BJP-Bengal’s state president Sukanta Majumdar.While BJP builds momentum around issues like corruption, deprivation and violence, the Trinamool Congress has also planned its moves well in advance.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Trinamool Congress will hold anti-Centre protests in the Assembly. In the coming weekend, the party will hold block-level programmes to ramp up its protests against the freeze of Central funds for MGNREGA and the PM Awas Yojana. Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has already announced that she will lead her party leaders to Delhi later this month and will try to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for funds. If the meeting does not fructify, then the Trinamool will hold protests in Delhi, Mamata Banerjee has warned.
