Mamata Banerjee vows to proceed with a TMC sit-in protest in Kolkata against alleged attacks on party members and hawker evictions, despite police denying permission, raising concerns about political unrest.
Key Points
- Mamata Banerjee announces TMC will proceed with planned protest despite police denial.
- The protest addresses alleged attacks on TMC leaders and workers, and the Railways' hawker eviction drive.
- Banerjee alleges common people and small traders are living in fear due to the current atmosphere.
- TMC claims 12 workers have been killed since the Assembly elections, with thousands arrested.
- Banerjee vows to protest even if arrested, highlighting obstruction of democratic protests.
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 the common people and small traders were living in fear, while hawkers were being evicted without a proper rehabilitation plan.
Banerjee Accuses Kolkata of Lawlessness
"Why are people frightened? Why are people anxious? The entire atmosphere has changed. Kolkata and Bengal have been handed over to lumpens," the former chief minister alleged.
Banerjee alleged 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.
Protest Against Democratic Obstruction
"Democratic protests were being obstructed," she said, pointing out that police have denied permission for her party's dharna at the Rani Rashmoni Road 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.
Recent Attacks on TMC Leaders
On Saturday, the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was roughed up in Sonarpur, in the southern outskirts of Kolkata, where an angry crowed pelted him with eggs and stones when he went there to visit the family of a TMC worker killed allegedly in post-poll violence.
A day later TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was also heckled allegedly by BJP workers in the Chandipur area of Hooghly district, during which the leader said that he sustained a head injury.
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