People's Democracy

WEST BENGAL

Mammoth Protest Rally Sweeps Kolkata

From Our Special Correspondent in Kolkata

TENS of thousands of people from North 24 Parganas district marched to Kolkata on January 8, demanding an end to attacks on democracy, continuing violence on women and all-round anarchy in the state. They also raised specific demands of the district. The rally, called by the CPI(M)’s North 24 Parganas district committee, turned to be a mammoth one.

The procession cum rally was the culmination of an intensive campaign which included more than 40 public meetings throughout the district. Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, Manik Sarkar, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Biman Basu and Suryakanta Misra were among the speakers of those area-based meetings in November and December. CPI(M) activists went door to door with campaign materials for nearly two months.

On January 8, people, coming by buses, trains and even by boats decorated with red flags, started to gather from early morning in Rani Rasmoni Road in Kolkata. But the most spectacular was the huge procession which started from Sealdah station and marched through Central Kolkata to the venue of the rally. It was a sea of red flags, declaring that the Lefts in Bengal are invincible. The entire area in Kolkata’s heartland was flooded with people.

Addressing the rally, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that the state was being ruled by a party of criminals. The state has witnessed a dangerous decline in agriculture, industry, employment generation. The rule of law is absent. The time has come when the people of the state have to decide who would dominate --- the society or the anti-socials.

On the coming Lok Sabha elections, Bhattacharjee said the Congress had virtually gone out of the race even before the elections. Ten years of the UPA rule have increased the misery of the people and now the people have turned their faces from the Congress. While Manmohan Singh is about to exit, there is also a monster making attempts to grab power at the centre. Narendra Modi is the candidate of the deadly combination of RSS and corporate houses. In West Bengal, the people will not allow this dangerous force to get a foothold.

Biman Basu called upon the people to mobilise in greater numbers to defeat the forces of authoritarianism. He said, the Left Front accepted defeat in assembly elections with humility and allowed the TMC government to function without hindrance. But what they delivered is an all-out attack on democracy. The time has come to resist this ugly force in order to save the state.

veteran Forward Bloc leader Ashoke Ghosh, RSP leader Khiti Goswami and CPI leader Swapan Banerjee also addressed the gathering. CPI(M) district secretary Gautm Deb categorically charged the chief minister and Trinamul Congress with being corrupt.

As a mark of solidarity with the families of the martyrs in this period, financial help was handed over to families of 50 martyrs.