Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said that the party's mega Martyrs' Day rally will be against the Centre's "authoritarian rule".
The party plans to make its annual rally here on Thursday, being held after a gap of two years of the pandemic, a grand success. TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee claimed that around 20 lakh people will attend the programme.
According to TMC sources, the party is likely to announce at the rally its strategy for strengthening Opposition unity against BJP and its pan-India expansion plans.
"We are dedicating this rally to the martyrs and against the authoritarian rule of the Centre," Banerjee said after visiting the venue to see for herself the preparations.
The TMC had held its annual Martyrs' Day rally during the past two years virtually due to the COVID pandemic.
This year's rally is also special as it is being held in its normal format after its victory in the last year's high-octane state poll in which the party returned to power for the third consecutive time. According to TMC sources, there are chances of workers of other parties, specially the BJP, joining it at the rally.
"Many leaders are in touch with us. Our party supremo will speak about its policies and pan-India expansion plans. She will also give out a message ahead of next year's panchayat polls," a senior TMC leader said.
Mamata said in a video message earlier in the day that there is not a single day when the martyrs are not remembered.
"Martyrs' Day is only a day away and as the preparations are near completion, we are brimming with emotions. We are taken back in time as we remember the faces of our brave martyrs and not a day goes by in our lives without remembering their supreme sacrifice," she said.
According to TMC sources, BJP leader and TMC turncoat Sovan Chatterjee along with his friend Baisakhi Bandopadhyay who had quit the saffron camp last year during Assembly polls over differences with the state BJP leadership, are likely to rejoin the party at the rally.
Chatterjee had met Banerjee at the state secretariat last month and promised to abide by her directions.
Chatterjee, once one of the top leaders of TMC, had been asked by Banerjee to resign both as minister and city mayor in November 2018 following problems in his personal life. He joined the saffron party in New Delhi in 2019.
Abhishek Banerjee, who too visited the rally venue in the city's downtown area, said "The party workers will go with the message of peace and harmony and to strengthen the party in the days to come".
TMC observes Martyrs' Day on July 21 every year to commemorate the killing of 13 people in police firing on a Youth Congress rally against the then Left Front government in 1993 when Banerjee was the YC state president. She continueS to observe the day even after she formed the Trinamool Congress in 1998 and came to power in 2011.
Tight security arrangements
Tight security arrangements will be in place for Trinamool Congress' Martyrs' Day rally in the Esplanade area of Kolkata on Thursday, police said. A total of 4,500 police personnel will be deployed across the city, of whom 3,500 will be at the venue in the heart of the city. Additional CCTVs have been installed there, a senior officer said.
