Mamata Banerjee Vows To Protest Despite Police Obstruction

Mamata Banerjee has vowed to proceed with a sit-in protest in Kolkata, defying police refusal, against alleged attacks on TMC leaders and the Railways' hawker eviction drive, highlighting ongoing political tensions in West Bengal.

The TMC will go ahead with its planned sit-in here against the alleged attacks on party leaders and workers, and the Railways' hawker eviction drive, despite the police denying permission for it, party supremo Mamata Banerjee said on Monday.

She alleged that while the common people and small traders were living in fear, and hawkers were being evicted without a proper rehabilitation plan, the ruling BJP was using "money and power" to engineer defections in her party.

The former chief minister, however, asserted that the departure of leaders from the party fold for personal interests would help rebuild the organisation, and the TMC would emerge stronger from the crisis.

"Why are people frightened? Why are people anxious? The entire atmosphere has changed. Kolkata and Bengal have been handed over to lumpens," she alleged.

Accusations of Political Violence and Obstruction

Banerjee said that 12 TMC workers had been killed since the Assembly elections and that thousands of party activists had been arrested, while many others had been forced to flee their homes.

"Democratic protests were being obstructed," she said, pointing out that police have denied permission for her party's dharna in the heart of Kolkata against issues such as hawker evictions and attacks on party workers and alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.

She declared the protest would go ahead regardless of official permission. "If we are not allowed to hold a dharna there, I will sit wherever I am stopped. I am ready to be arrested," Banerjee said.

The TMC supremo also said that if she was not allowed to hold the protest in Kolkata, she would go to Delhi.

Defections and Internal Party Dynamics

Apparently referring to BJP leader and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who was once a close aide of Banerjee, the TMC supremo said that she had fielded him in polls as she knew her father and family for a long time.

Banerjee claimed that she had been conveyed a message suggesting that some leaders would return to the party if her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was removed from the organisation's leadership.

"I know these people very well. Those who have no ideology or principles cannot dictate terms to us," she said.

The remark came amid political turmoil in the TMC following the expulsion of two MLAs for alleged anti-party activities and reports of more leaders being in touch with the BJP.

On Monday, a meeting with TMC MLAs was cancelled after only 20 of the 80 party legislators arrived at Banerjee's residence for the meeting.

Allegations Against the BJP

The TMC supremo alleged that the BJP was targeting Abhishek Banerjee because of his growing political stature and claimed that he was recently denied proper medical treatment after being attacked.

On Saturday, Abhishek Banerjee was roughed up in Sonarpur, in the southern outskirts of Kolkata, where an angry crowd pelted him with eggs and stones when he went there to visit the family of a TMC worker killed, allegedly in post-poll violence.

Referring to the incident, she alleged that hospitals were pressured against admitting him and described it as an example of "political vendetta".

Mamata Banerjee alleged the police have arrested those who were trying to protect Abhishek Banerjee and said that he could have suffered a fatal head injury had he not worn a helmet.

Accusations of Misuse of Power

The TMC supremo also accused the BJP government of withdrawing security cover for opposition leaders and using the police machinery to intimidate elected representatives.

"Police are being used to threaten MLAs and force local representatives to resign. This is not democracy," she alleged.

Targeting defectors, Banerjee said several leaders now leaving the TMC had enjoyed power and positions for years but were changing sides to protect personal interests.

Taking a swipe at MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, who, along with Sandipan Saha, has been expelled from the TMC, she said the party had made a mistake by accommodating him after he was expelled by the CPI(M) in 2017.

"I thank the CPI(M) for expelling him. Our mistake was giving him a ticket after he came and fell at my feet seeking an opportunity. We trusted him and even denied tickets to others to accommodate him. Today he has betrayed the party and the people who elected him," Banerjee said.

"We are happy that they have left. We will rebuild the party. Such people were never our assets," she added.

In an apparent reference to TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has resigned from all organisational posts of the Trinamool Congress, Banerjee alleged the parliamentarian was attempting to align with the BJP.

She further claimed that the MP had sought nomination for her son to fight the assembly elections.

Banerjee accused the BJP of attempting to use the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and administrative measures to intimidate supporters of the opposition party and alleged that democratic institutions were being misused.

The BJP is yet to respond to the allegations.