KOLKATA: Giving a clarion call ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the CPM on Sunday asked the people of West Bengal, who previously supported the Trinamool Congress, to join the party’s fight against the corruption orchestrated by the state’s ruling party, which is also a Left Front’s INDIA alliance partner.
Addressing a massive rally in Brigade Parade Ground, Kolkata’s prime seat to organise protest programmes, Minakshi Mukherjee, the state president of CPM’s youth wing DYFI, which contested against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, said, “Our hands are extended to welcome those who once supported the TMC with a hope that it would bring changes but got disappointed because of corruption in the government.
You thought an angel would come from the sky and bring paribartan (changes). But now you are witnessing many of the ruling party leadership are facing charges of corruption. They are now sleeping on the floor of jails for snatching away your rights. Our hands are extended to welcome you in the fight of corruption against the TMC.
Thousands of CPM supporters turned up at the rally venue spilling over the arterial thoroughfares of the state capital. Taking a jibe at chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s khela hobe (there will be a game) coinage before the high-octane 2021 Assembly elections, Minakshi, who was the main speaker at the event, said,
“We are ready to take control of the field that is marked by you for a game.”
From the Kolkata’s iconic venue, the CPM vowed to fight both the TMC and BJP in West Bengal in the upcoming general elections. Referring to the Insaaf Yatra (walk for justice), organised by the DYFI covering 2,900 km stretch from north Bengal to south Bengal to urge the people to participate in the rally, CPM state secretary Mohammad Selim said, “On behalf of those gathered at Brigade, I congratulate those who have travelled so many kilometres. There is still a lot of distance to be covered. We do not need help from any Delhi to save West Bengal. CPM is the only alternative to the TMC and not the BJP.”
“The youths in the state will have to be united against the ongoing anarchy during the regime of the TC-led government. After completing education, you are jobless. TMC satraps appointed their men in exchange of money snatching away deserving candidates like you. The young blood of the state can end this corruption,” he said while addressing the assembly.
The CPM, which failed to send a single MLA in the House of 283 legislators, portrayed the DYFI event as a new milestone because of the huge turnout of supporters. This was the first time since 2008 that the CPM bought its youth wing to the forefront in organising a political rally at a venue considered to be the largest in the Bengal capital. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the CPM, which faced criticism for not giving young party members room to join electoral fray, had fielded a number of young faces from the DYFI to contest against the BJP and the TMC but none of them could secure victory.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari rubbished CPM’s claim to give the TMC a fight in the elections.
“The CPM is fighting against TMC in West Bengal. But Minakshi’s uncle Sitaram Yechuri is sharing biryani with them in Delhi,” he said. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the turnout in Brigade rally will not get reflected in the election result.