The 3.5km march led by Mamata Banerjee here on Friday against the Centre’s citizenship thrust witnessed the presence of a large crowd comprising members of different communities.

Over 35,000 people walked with the chief minister through prominent thoroughfares of the city, the longest march that Siliguri saw in recent times.

An equal number of people stood on either side of the route from Hill Cart Road to Baghajatin Park through Kutcheri Road, cheering and welcoming “Didi”.

Slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register rented the air.

“It was the longest march in recent times and we have proved that people have shunned the BJP and are with us. The event was like a test for us and it seems we have passed with flying colours,” said a Trinamul leader in Siliguri.

Along with the show of strength, Trinamul also managed to establish another major point through the meeting and the march — the presence of people of different communities.

From the hills, at least 10,000 Gorkhas had driven down to attend the procession. So had the Rajbanshis and tribals, who reached from different places of the Siliguri subdivision and the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district in large numbers.

Last month, the BJP had taken out a procession here in support of the CAA. The presence of Gorkhas, Rajbanshis and tribals was less then.

“Also, members of the minority community and different income groups of the society took part in our walk. That is significant,” the Trinamul leader said.

The crowd at Baghajatin Park after the procession in Siliguri on Friday

This is Mamata’s second march in Siliguri. The first was in March 2016 ahead of the Assembly polls. “Then, the crowd was less than what we saw on Friday,” said a political analyst.

He also pointed out a sharp contrast that was witnessed within a gap of 10 months. In April 2019, Mamata had been to Baghajatin Park to address a public meeting ahead of the Parliament polls. There were hardly 3,000 people at the venue and the ground was just partially filled.

“People had even started leaving while she was speaking. But when Mamata reached the same venue today and took the microphone, people started pouring in thousands, even though it was drizzling. The response was encouraging for Trinamul and the crowd listened to the chief minister, cheered and raised slogans. This is a significant change,” the analyst said.

The turnout at the rallies — the Trinamul chief spoke before and after the march — and the procession has bolstered the confidence of party leaders, many of whom were crestfallen after the BJP had bagged seven of eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal.

“In the past couple of months, there were some indications that people were returning to us. But on Friday, the response corroborated our belied that the trend is in favour of us. Leaders in Siliguri should see that Trinamul wins civic and rural polls here,” a Trinamul leader of Jalpaiguri said.

The presence of a large number of Gorkhas made Mamata announce from the dais that she would hold a march in the hills on January 22.

So far, the Binay Tamang faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha — an ally of Trinamul — was organising the movement against the CAA and the NRC in the hills.