Modi on March 8, Mamata on March 10; TMC plans Brigade Rally As Politics Heats Up Ahead Of 2024 Battle

Trinamool Congress announced on Sunday their plans for a mega show of strength at the historic Brigade ground in Kolkata on March 10, two days after PM Modi’s third scheduled political rally in Bengal this election season. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold three rallies- March 1 in Arambagh, March 2 in Krishnanagar and March 8 in Barasat. The March 8 rally was initially scheduled for March 6 but was later postponed by two days to coincide with International Women’s Day where BJP plans to bring the aggrieved women from Sandeshkhali who had leveled serious allegations of sexual harassment at the hands of local TMC leaders including now absconding Seikh Shahjahan.

The Brigade show by TMC will be their first in the past five years where Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister will be the main speaker. TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee while announcing the event on Sunday also named it ‘Jana Garjan Sabha’ (Mass Roaring) against the BJP over blocking of Central funds like MNREGA payments―payments of 100-day works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Act (MNREGA) have been due to over twenty lakh beneficiaries for over two years. The funds have been stalled after the BJP Bengal Unit alleged irregularities.

“How many times have you seen these leaders after being defeated in the 2021 assembly polls in Bengal? Thus we call them migratory birds. We call them zamindars because they are trying to control the fate of the people of Bengal from Delhi. Thus we have called the Brigade rally. We are confident of the strength and thus we will do this Brigade rally with a two-week notice. For the past two years, they have stopped money for social schemes. They have collected taxes of more than Rs 4.6 lakh crore over the past five years from Bengal but then they have deprived the poor people of the state,” said Abhishek Banerjee while lashing out at the BJP. He called the brigade to show a trailer of public uproar against the BJP while the elections will be the actual movie.

Banerjee has also dared BJP to prove their organisational strength by organising a similar Brigade rally soon after theirs on such short notice. The Brigade show by TMC comes amidst the current discourse around the Sandeshkhali issue and a feared political fallout of that, where BJP has accused TMC of patronising goons who have violated the rights of poor and allegedly “sexually exploited women”. Mamata Banerjee government has begun the process of receiving complaints from aggrieved protesters who had allegedly lost their land to illegal encroachment by TMC leader Seikh Shahjahan and his associates. While BJP is trying to latch on to the Sandeshkhali issue, TMC aims to bring attention back to the stalling of Central funds. Both sides accuse each other of indulging in diversionary tactics.

“The Prime Minister can go wherever he wants but since their 2021 election defeat how many times the BJP leaders and ministers have cared to do any event in Bengal to check on the people of Sandeshkhali, Arambagh, or Krishnanagar for that matter? How many times did they call and check how are people whose money they have stalled, are surviving? Ahead of the election, he can do rallies for the sake of the chair and then forget about the people," said the Diamond Harbour MP, calling the frequent visit of BJP leaders to the trouble-hit Sandeshkhali an attempt to keep the issue alive till the visit of the Prime Minister.

“The Calcutta High Court has stayed FIRs registered by Bengal police against Seikh Shahjahan; media and people should ask the court if the probe was stayed so that BJP can get footage for 15 days. BJP is trying to stoke a fire in Sandeshkhali. One day Suvendu Adhikari is going there, and another day Sukanta Mazumdar is going there; then they have sent their fact-finding teams. Why can’t all of them go there together? They won’t because they have instruction from Delhi to keep the Sandeshkhali issue alive till the PM visits,” he added.