Trinamul Congress national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday dared the saffron regime to stop his party’s protest programmes from taking place in the national capital, vowing to make them happen despite all obstacles.
Hours after the railways sent an email in the evening, rejecting Trinamul’s request for a special train meant to leave on Saturday with thousands of Bengal’s deprived MGNREGS job cardholders, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew held a media conference, lambasting the BJP-led Centre.
“Why is Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi so scared? Why are they this scared?” asked a visibly infuriated Abhishek after the rejection by the railways presented a serious logistics conundrum for his party.
Alternative arrangements to send the 2,000-plus job cardholders and several hundred elected Trinamul representatives by road are being put in place. The party’s programmes in Delhi are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
But sending them via buses means they would have to go through Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While Jharkhand and Bihar have non-BJP governments that are favourably disposed towards Trinamul, Uttar Pradesh is ruled by Yogi Adityanath-led BJP.
Abhishek expressed the apprehension of aggression being meted out to the buses ferrying the protesters.
“We will take necessary steps and those who have reached Calcutta will be taken to Delhi in the next two days,” he said at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, the venue of the overnight gathering for the Delhi departure.
“But if anyone lays even a finger on the common people or job cardholders in BJP-ruled states, we won’t back down and the people will give a befitting response to them democratically,” he added. “If you want, you can unleash your violence on me, or our MPs, or other elected representatives.”
He brandished documentary evidence to substantiate Trinamul’s argument that it had paid Rs 50 lakh in fare and Rs 11 lakh as a security deposit on September 23 for 20 sleeper bogies with a pantry.
“It has been said that we did not follow due process and did not properly seek the booking. If that is the case, then why is that money being refunded to us?” he asked.
“A vast majority of those who have come here are women, cradling children. They are being denied the journey by train that we duly paid for,” he added.
Trinamul said on Friday night that the number of protesters had reached 5,000 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
"Fifty buses are arranged but given the additional gathering, we are making more arrangements. Buses are slated to leave the Netaji Indoor Stadium from 8.30am tomorrow (Saturday),"a Trinamul leader said.
Earlier in the day, Abhishek Banerjee announced his decision against showing up for interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its Calcutta office on Tuesday.
This is the second time this year that Abhishek has refused to comply with an ED summons on account of a prior-announced political programme.
“The fight against the deprivation of WB and its rightful dues shall persist regardless of the obstacles. No force on Earth can hinder my dedication to fight for the people of WB and their fundamental rights,” the Diamond Harbour MP wrote on X at 11.18am on Friday.