Former West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a massive protest in central Kolkata against alleged post-poll attacks on party workers and leaders, including MP Abhishek Banerjee.
Banerjee arrived at the site of the dharna in Y Canal of the Esplanade after the Kolkata Police rejected TMC’s plea to hold the protest on the adjacent Rani Rashmoni Road.
In some of her harshest criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is now in power in the state, she vowed to “fight or die” against attacks on party leaders and “forceful” eviction of street vendors.
“Download it again (I will fight or die),” she chanted on the dharna site.
Among the many concerns raised were attacks on the BJP for not granting permission to hold the protest on Rani Rashmoni Road in the state capital.
“We were not allowed to set up a stage or use microphones,” she said, addressing her supporters over a loudspeaker.
“Anti-BJP parties” will meet in Delhi soon to decide “on our nationwide course of action,” she said during the protest.
The demonstration witnessed noisy scenes as hundreds of TMC workers and supporters raised slogans during the former Prime Minister’s speech.
Banerjee was joined by several senior party leaders, including Kolkata Mayor and MLA Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee and Dhola Sen.
The TMC chief said the dharna, which was organized due to the alleged attack on her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday, allegations of post-poll violence and eviction of street vendors, will continue till evening as planned.
The protest comes after Abhishek Banerjee was pelted with bricks, stones and eggs during a visit to Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas, leading to an alleged eye injury.
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee also claimed that there was an “attempt to kill him” near Chanditala police station when he went there to file a warrant.
