Trinamool Congress chief and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a protest in Kolkata over alleged post-poll violence that targeted party leaders, including her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and MP Kalyan Banerjee.
Addressing TMC supporters at a day-long dharna in central Kolkata, she alleged that the BJP "rigged" counting in 177 of the 294 seats, which went for polls to win the recently concluded West Bengal elections.
Banerjee asserted that she would not abandon TMC workers in "these difficult times", referring to large-scale arrests of leaders on charges of corruption, intimidation and extortion, and the alleged torture of party workers after the TMC's defeat in the recent assembly polls.
The TMC supremo said anti-BJP parties would soon formulate a country-wide opposition programme.
"Very soon, all anti-BJP parties will meet in Delhi. Wait for a few days and we will soon announce our country-wide course of action," she said, referring to the scheduled INDIA bloc meeting next week.
The protest is primarily against attacks on Trinamool Congress leaders in incidents of post-poll violence, hawker evictions and other issues. It comes amid heightened political tensions following reported attacks on Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee during their respective visits to affected areas in West Bengal.
Before launching the demonstration, Banerjee paid floral tributes at the statue of BR Ambedkar along with party leaders. She was also seen holding a copy of the Constitution of India before heading to the protest site.
Banerjee reached the dharna site at Esplanade's Y-channel after the TMC's appeal to hold the protest at the adjacent Rani Rashmoni Road was turned down by the Kolkata Police.
The party supremo, however, asserted that the dharna will continue till the evening as scheduled. The protest was marked by chaos, with TMC workers shouting slogans amid the former chief minister's speech.
In a post on X, Banerjee called the sit-in protest a programme "against post-poll violence, eviction of hawkers without rehabilitation, irregularities/ fraud in the NEET examination, and the vindictive actions of the BJP government".
"We were not permitted to hold our programme at the place we requested. At the alternative site, the police did not allow us to set up a stage or use microphones," Banerjee said, while addressing the crowd using a hand-held megaphone.
"We will move court if other parties are allowed to hold political programmes at the venue where we were denied permission to protest, or if they are allowed to hold meetings with microphones. Law cannot be imposed with discrimination," she added.
The protest was marked by intermittent chaos, with TMC workers shouting slogans amid the former chief minister's speech.
"Those who have arrived here, ignoring police intimidation, should know that the men in uniform are being used by the BJP dispensation to do things they are not supposed to do. Threatening TMC workers is not part of their job profile," Banerjee alleged.
The TMC supremo was seen accompanied by the party's old guards Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Kalyan Banerjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Dola Sen, amid the conspicuous absence of most of the fresh faces who won the assembly seats on TMC tickets.
The party supremo, however, asserted that the dharna, to protest Saturday's attack on her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, alleged post-poll violence and hawker eviction, will continue till the evening as scheduled.
Banerjee alleged that the recent assault of Abhishek at Sonarpur was carried out in a planned manner.
"The BJP had smuggled in its workers from before, fed them and even tutored them how to act and talk. Had a TMC worker not supplied Abhishek with a helmet, the injury from the stone hurled at him could have turned fatal," she alleged.
She further accused that the private hospitals where Abhishek was taken to were brought under "immense pressure" of the Suvendu Adhikari establishment to not allow admission to the injured leader.
"Modi has left Bengal in the hands of anti-socials and bulldozer-happy politicians, pushing the state into darkness," she said.
Speaking on the controversy over signatures of TMC MLAs endorsing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition, Banerjee maintained that the MLAs had signed the party's meet attendance book in accordance with the decision taken at the meeting concerned.
"The Assembly Speaker should have conducted forensic tests of the signatures if he had confusion about their authenticity. The BJP is playing a dirty game," she said.