Kolkata, July 1 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress faction, which continues its allegiance to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, has decided to approach the Calcutta High Court challenging the Kolkata Police’s decision to impose prohibitory orders in central Kolkata where the party organises Martyrs’ Day on July 21 every year.
On Tuesday, the Kolkata Police informed both factions that this year’s Martyrs’ Day would not be allowed to be organised in front of the CESC House adjacent to the busy Esplanade crossing in central Kolkata.
At the same time, the Kolkata Police have imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) restricting assembly of more than a certain number of people at a place and at a time in that pocket of central Kolkata under whose jurisdiction the Martyrs’ Day venue falls.
Although the “rebel but majority” faction in Trinamool Congress is yet to react to the Kolkata Police’s decision, a couple of leaders from the “original but minority” faction have claimed that they would take up the matter legally and politically.
According to the four-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member and senior advocate, Kalyan Banerjee, a prominent face from the “original but minority” faction, imposing Section 163 of the BNSS over an entire pocket and that too for two months is illegal.
“It seems that the Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, is scared of democratic assembly of people and organised protest movements.
“We will definitely approach the court against this order. We will file a case. We will fight this both legally and politically. We have immense faith in the judicial system of the country. The democratic movement of the people cannot be stopped in such a manner,” said Banerjee.
Echoing him, the two-time party Lok Sabha member, Mahua Moitra, said she is confident that the judicial system will find remedies for the undemocratic excesses of the state administration.
With very few exceptions, Trinamool Congress has always been conducting the Martyrs’ Day rally in front of CESC House. The rally was organised every year to condemn the killing of 13 youth Congress workers on this date in 1993 during the erstwhile CPI(M)-led Left Front regime, when nonagenarian Indian Marxist Late Jyoti Basu was the West Bengal Chief Minister.
Observing Martyrs’ Day on July 21 was initially a Congress event till Mamata Banerjee formed the Trinamool Congress by breaking away from the Congress in 1998. Since then, observing Martyrs’ Day in July became a Trinamool Congress-arranged affair.
–IANS
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