The biggest event is being organised by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress near Birla Planetarium.
NEW DELHI: West Bengal’s annual July 21 Martyrs’ Day observance has turned into a major political showdown this year, with three rival groups set to hold separate programmes within a 2.5-km stretch in central Kolkata. What was once the Trinamool Congress’ biggest annual political event has now become a battle over political legitimacy after the party split and lost power in the state assembly elections.The biggest event is being organised by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress near Birla Planetarium. A rival group led by leader of opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, which claims to be the “real Trinamool Congress”, is holding its own rally near the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road. The Congress, which originally spearheaded the 1993 agitation, is also organising a separate programme at Shahid Minar.Hours before Tuesday’s events, former chief minister Mamata Banerjee spent the night at her rally venue after her faction alleged that unidentified people had vandalised the stage, banners and sound system.Accompanied by senior party leaders including Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee and Dola Sen, Mamata remained at the venue overnight while party workers guarded the site until morning. Addressing supporters shortly before midnight, Mamata accused the BJP of trying to disrupt the programme.”Our workers are being stopped from coming to the meeting. Families of the martyrs are being intimidated by the police. Our stage has been vandalised, banners torn, and power and microphone lines cut. Around 60-65 BJP-backed goons, led by a criminal who is out on court orders, carried out the attack,” she alleged.Without naming chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, she claimed the state government was using the police and intimidation to prevent people from attending the gathering. However, the BJP denied the allegations.State minister Dilip Ghosh questioned why Trinamool leaders had remained at the venue throughout the night.”This is supposed to be a programme to honour martyrs, not a protest stage. They can sit there all night, but nobody is with them anymore. They betrayed the martyrs, their families and ultimately the people,” Ghosh said.July 21 Martyrs’ Day commemorates the killing of 13 Youth Congress workers who died in police firing during a march to Writers’ Buildings in Kolkata in 1993. Since 1994, Mamata Banerjee has observed the anniversary every year, and it has grown into the Trinamool Congress’ largest annual political event.This year’s observance carries added political significance because it is the first since the BJP defeated the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly elections, ending the party’s 15-year rule. It is also the first Martyrs’ Day after the Trinamool split into rival factions.Security has been tightened across central Kolkata as the three events are taking place close to one another. Police have set up barricades, diverted traffic, deployed drones and increased the number of personnel to prevent any clashes.The political atmosphere intensified further on Monday when chief minister Suvendu Adhikari tabled in the Assembly the long-pending judicial commission report into the 1993 police firing. He accused the previous Trinamool government of suppressing the report while continuing to use the incident for political purposes.The release of the report has added a new political dimension to this year’s Martyrs’ Day, with both the ruling BJP and rival Trinamool factions seeking to shape the legacy of an event that has remained one of West Bengal’s most significant political anniversaries for more than three decades.
