Trinamul Congress leaders across Bengal had an unfamiliar target of ensuring small gatherings to watch live Mamata Banerjee’s address on the Martyrs’ Day this year at booth levels unlike in the past when they were tasked with arranging for mammoth crowds at mega rallies in Calcutta on July 21.

The ruling party made arrangements at 72,000-plus booths across the state on Tuesday to enable workers and common people to listen to Mamata’s live speech from her 30B Harish Chatterjee Street home in Calcutta.

The address was streamed through social media platforms and television channels.

Ahead of July 21 every year, Trinamul leaders in districts had a different challenge as they had to organise logistics to bring people to Dharmatala in Calcutta from where Mamata delivered her Martyrs’ Day address and set the party’s agenda.

“This year was different as we had no target of sending people to Calcutta. Our challenge was to stop people from gathering at a single venue,” a senior Trinamul leader in Birbhum said.

Trinamul leaders in districts like East Burdwan, Birbhum, Hooghly and West Burdwan installed television sets or giant screens for the party workers to watch the July 21 speech of Mamata.

As most of the Bengali news channels telecast Mamata’s speech live, making the arrangement wasn’t difficult. Those who were on the move listened to the address on social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube.

“Even if you assume that 20 people watched the programme at each of the booth, around 15 lakh listened to her address. Then, add those who watched from their home. There is little doubt that in terms of numbers, today’s programme was the most successful July 21 event,” said a Trinamul insider.

In towns like Tamluk and Contai in East Midnapore and Kalna in East Burdwan, which announced lockdown recently, hundreds of loudspeakers were tied to electric poles or trees so that people could listen to her address sitting at home.
Across the state, Martyrs’ Day was observed with three or four leaders going to local party offices and hoisting flags and paying tributes to the martyrs.

Sources said party leaders across districts like Nadia, Birbhum, East Burdwan, Hooghly and East Midnapore prevented people from assembling because of the pandemic.

“Our duty was to control the mass and send out a message that we did not violate social distancing norms,” said Syed Ashiq Khan, a Trinamul worker in Hooghly.

However, there were reports that social distancing norms were flouted at some places like Burdwan town.
Many Trinamul workers this correspondent spoke to said they felt disappointed as they couldn’t continue their record of attending the programme at Esplanade, which they started in 1998.

“I have attended the July 21 rally from 1998 and I have never missed the event in the past 21 years. This year is very disappointing for me as a party worker to break the tradition,” said Sheikh Harun Rashid, a Trinamul worker and panchayat member from Goghat.

Additional reporting by Anshuman Phadikar and Subhasish Chaudhuri.