By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: A tug-of-war between Trinamool Congress and Congress to observe July 21 as Martyr’s Day is an annual event in the political calendar of West Bengal. But what used to be an unequal contest between two political outfits has been joined by another political entity this year.
A breakaway group of Trinamool Congress led by Ritabrata Banerjee who is the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly has staked its claim to observe the Martyr’s Day. He claims to have the support of more than 65 MLAs who have switched loyalty out of the 80 legislators elected as Trinamool nominees in 2026 state assembly elections.
Now the event will be observed at three different venues next week. Ritabrata’s faction will observe the event at the foot of Gandhi statue on Mayo Road while the group loyal to Mamata Banerjee will pay its respect to the martyrs near MP Birla Planetarium and the Congress will do it at Sahid Minar. . The third faction of TMC, the 20 Lok Sabha MPs who joined the new party NCPI as associate of NDA, has also staked their claim for holding a rally. But they have not made any move officially. No letter has been sent to the police.
The Mamata Banerjee faction of TMC has been directed by Calcutta High Court to keep a flank of the road open for traffic. Not more than 2500 activists are to attend the event, it was further directed.
The faction owing allegiance to the former chief minister has earlier sought to hold the event near Victoria House, the head quarters of a power utility company. It moved court after police denied it permission stating that in that event the traffic in the central business district would go haywire.
Vicinity of the Victoria House, at the junction of Chittaranjan Avenue and Bentinck Street has been the choice of both the TMC factions as the long stretch of thoroughfare is easier to fill up. It is a narrower stretch than the rolling green Brigade Parade ground under army jurisdiction.
July 21, a signature political event for TMC post founding the party on January 1,1998 may witness an unprecedented situation in state politics this time. Thus there will be two Trinamool factions and the state Congress observing an identical occasion at three different venues on the same day.
Fishing in troubled waters, state Congress has also thrown its hat in the ring. Since it was Congress activists who died in police firing on that day in 1993, the best claim to observe it lies with us, state Congress chief Subhankar Sarkar said.
The one owing allegiance to Mamata Banerjee lacks the numbers of MLAs and activists. Its number is depleting almost on a daily basis as one after another of the legislators are switching loyalty to the Ritabrata faction.
With almost daily unearthing of scams of previous government’s leaders and ministers, their followers are a disillusioned lot. Not many of them are likely to troop in at the event near the planetarium.
The Congress which has only two MLAs in a House of 294 members. Its observance of the event will be merely making its organisational presence felt.
July 21 marks the day when 14 activists part of a large group led by Mamata Banerjee who was then in Congress fell to police bullets during a march to Writers’ Buildings, then the state secretariat. The state Congress was then a fissured body with Banerjee on an agitation mode against CPI(M)-led Left Front government while the other faction led by the then state chief Somen Mitra seeking a more sedate line of action.
The TMC’s Martyr’s Day is an annual traffic stopper in the city. Activists and leaders once looked forward to it all the year. For it was here that new leaders were introduced to the crowd beneath the stage. In other words, July 21 in was the day when the rank and file came to know at whom the party supremo smiled or frowned.
Small wonder, every year, since formation of TMC, every activist tries his/ her best to attend the event. For the party leadership, it is an occasion to reach out and reassure itself of the continued support of the rank and file. But July 21 will differ from the previous occasions on this date. For the first time after 15 years, the TMC is out of power.
Both the factions have a commonality of reasons for claiming to observe the day. It is going to be a test to gauge the people’s support for the two recently separated groups. Civic elections in Kolkata and several other nearby municipal bodies are scheduled to be held later this year. The size and enthusiasm of the rallyists will be the twin determinants of the campaign plans to be chalked out.
Krishnanagar MP, Mahua Moitra said that if necessary Mamata Banerjee will address the crowds standing atop a jeep. She felt that the breakaway group lack popular support base of its own. and sans the support of Mamata Banerjee, they cannot win a single election, she added.
It is this contention. which Ritabrata Banerjee faction seeks to dispel. To underscore the breakaway group of Trinamool Congress having a wider support base, drawing a huge crowd on July 21, is an essential pre-condition for it. Having parted company with Mamata Banerjee-led party, the Ritabrata faction has not taken up a new name or symbol. A large crowd will cement it’s claim to both.
But it can only happen once it demonstrates enjoying greater popularity than the faction led by Mamata Banerjee. Indeed it would be one of the major planks supporting it’s claim to party name of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and it’s symbol of grass and two flowers (ghash o joraphul)
Raghunathganj MLA, Akrurjaman, a close confidante of Ritabrata Banerjee claiming the breakaway group to be the real TMC said that the proceedings of the meeting will be a pointer to its authenticity. Unlike previous occasions, the family members of the martyrs will be honoured.
Earlier they were lost in the medley of celebrities on stage, he said taking a dig at the fondness of Mamata Banerjee for film actors and singers. In so many words, the chief whip of Trinamool Congress Legislature Party was seeking to focus on the connect between the breakaway and highlighting how his erstwhile leadership had made itself redundant having created a huge gap with the masses.
Aiming to steal TMC’s thunder, the state Congress has plans to observe the July 21 Martyr’s Day at the foot of Shahid Minar on the maidan. The Congress will raise the demand to release “the Manish Gupta file” in a bid to embarrass, the Trinamool faction led by Mamata Banerjee. Gupta, the state home secretary who gave the firing order on Congress activists on July 21 became a minister in Mamata Banerjee’s Cabinet
The Congress’s move makes what ought to have been a tug- of -war into a three -cornered grapple. Its end result will demonstrate the extent of public support behind each of the trisected section of an already fragmented Opposition. (IPA Service)
