A large number of Trinamul Congress supporters from far-flung districts of West Bengal have reached Calcutta to take part in the party’s Martyrs’ Day rally on Friday, as the Mamata Banerjee-led outfit has made elaborate arrangements for their stay in the metropolis.

Posters and banners of varied sizes and shapes bearing photographs of party supremo Mamata Banerjee and asking people to join the rally to be held in the five-point Esplanade crossing have dotted the streets, lanes and by-lanes of the city.

Lakhs of people are expected to attend the rally the party has been organising for many years in memory of 13 Congress supporters who were shot dead in police firing in 1993 during a march to the state secretariat - Writers Buildings - when the CPI(M)-led Left Front was in power in the state.

Mamata Banerjee was the state Youth Congress chief at that time and she continued to hold the rally on the day every year even after forming the Trinamool Congress on January 1, 1998.

Some supporters of the TMC have arrived at the camps set up for them by the party at large parks and stadia in various parts of the city.

One of them, Pulin Barman of Digulhati village in Cooch Behar district in the northern part of the state, has come to Kolkata for the first time.

“We reached Sealdah by train at 6 am and then went to the camp at Salt Lake Central Park by bus. We had tea and breakfast. They (the organisers) also provided us with lunch. We are planning to visit various places of interest in the city,“ Barman told PTI.

Atazul Haque, also from Cooch Behar district, said this is the first time he has come for the July 21 rally. “I am seeking someone who can help show me Kolkata,” he said.

Srimanta Mahato from Dakshin Dinajpur district reached the camp on Wednesday.

“I bathed in the holy Ganga yesterday along with my nephew. If time permits, we will go to Kalighat and Dakshineswar Kali temples,” he said.

Not all, however, are not as enthusiastic as them to visit the city. Dhaneshwar Barman of Cooch Behar said he is not interested to go anywhere.

“I plan to stay put at the camp and meet new people. I will board a train after Friday’s meeting at Esplanade,” he said.

Senior minister Sujit Bose, who is looking after the campsite in Salt Lake Central Park, said arrangements for food and accommodation have been made for 40,000 people there.

“They will be provided with simple food – rice, lentil soup, mixed vegetables and egg curry. We will take them to Sealdah station tomorrow by bus and from there, they will join the procession,” Bose said.

A TMC activist working at the camp said bread and milk will be given to children accompanying their parents.

Streets of Kolkata have choked on July 21 for the past several years, except during the Covid years. Lakhs of TMC supporters throng the city to congregate at the Esplanade crossing on this day.

The TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee generally announces policy directions from this rally and people wait for that.

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