The Trinamul Congress on Saturday cancelled its “confidence-building” public meeting scheduled for Sunday in the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali citing the ongoing higher secondary examination.
The ruling party has instead decided to hold an internal organisational meeting on Sunday to take stock of the ground situation in the troubled areas of the island in North 24-Parganas.
On Sunday, senior Trinamul leaders and ministers Partha Bhowmik and Sujit Bose will interact with party workers at a closed venue in the Kalinagar area of Sandeshkhali at 1pm.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Trinamul MLA of Sandeshkhali Sukumar Mahata said: “We have modified the plan for the public meeting to avoid troubles for the students appearing for the higher secondary examination. If the public meeting is held, the students will face disturbances because of the sound of microphones. They are already disturbed by the unrest and we don’t want to disturb them further.”
“The proposed meeting will be held on March 3 when top leaders will be present in the area. However, it will be held only if Section 144 imposed on various pockets is withdrawn by the time,” Mahata added.
Trinamul insiders said the leadership had shelved the meeting in order to assess the situation first before delivering the party’s stand.
A wide outreach exercise has been launched by the party, apart from the collection of data on the monetary dues of two controversial leaders Uttam Sardar, and Shibaprasad Hazra who was arrested on Saturday.
“We all want to know the exact situation. The allegations against our leaders are exaggerated. Opposition parties are levelling false allegations and desperately trying to frame them. They are being implicated in many false cases and we need to find out the truth,” MLA Mahata said, reiterating the party’s support for the controversial leaders.
A woman, who claimed to be a BJP supporter, alleged that hooligans had entered her home on Friday night and thrown her child to the ground apparently for joining the movement against Trinamul leaders.
She later narrated the incident to the members of the West Bengal Commission
for Protection of Child Rights, who visited the troubled area and interacted with
villagers.
To condemn the atrocities in Sandeshkhali, ISF supporters led by Nawsad Siddique organised a rally and staged a dharna near the SP office in Basirhat town on Saturday.
“It is horrible to know that children were not spared by the hooliganws... I hope commissions for wowmen and child rights will take cognizance of such incidents and protect the interests of the residents of Sandeshkhali,” said Siddique.
