This day has been etched in stone for Bengal as Martyrs’ day in remembrance of the 13protestors killed in the firing in 1993 while demanding voters’ identity card to be made the sole document for voting in the elections. The protestors were from the Congress party and Mamata Banerjee leading the protest was the then Youth Congress leader.
Mamata Banerjee broke away from Congress in 1998 and founded All India Trinamul Congress, the died too ever since are presumed to have switched over with Didi to Trinamul. Mamata Banerjee has been holding massive rallies each year, attracting millions of people from all over the state. The initial core spirit of the gathering, mourning, has been given way to pompous show of strength, flexing of muscles, the announcement of party manifest and above all, taking on the political adversaries. The Congress party, the truly entitled mourners, do not even gather in a handful, to symbolically mourn sitting in front of the statue of Gandhi, or passing any resolution, grieving the deaths.
Be it as it may, this year’s rally assumes a greater significance for Didi to re-establish her might, after poll drubbings in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Her main political adversaries, the BJP has grown dominant in a few districts, causing discomfort to CM Mamata and many of her diehard supporters have switched over. She has to stem the flight of her supporters to BJP and retain her party’s stranglehold on Bengal ever since she captured the power in 2011.
It will be interesting to watch the newly appointed fate-changer for Trinamul, Prashant Kishore, moving within the crowds, incognito or otherwise, to gauge their mood and note down the points in strategizing the next poll victory for his employers. The rally assumes significance for Mamata, in keeping her ambitions for Delhi alive, with many contenders, like Naidu, Mayawati, Akhilesh out of the fray. Her extent of addressing in Hindi in today may reveal her mind to some extent. It will be an exciting watch over the attendance from the districts where her party had lost.
I guess the rally will be against EVMs and will pitch for the ballots in the polls ahead.
Jai Shri Bangla!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
