Mamata Banerjee appears set to begin her election campaign with a protest movement against the alleged gangrape and murder of a dalit 19-year-old in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
The West Bengal Chief Minister will hit the street tomorrow to do her maiden padyatra of the year.
"Mamata Banerjee will undertake a brisk walk from Birla Planetarium to Gandhi statute of Dharmatala," said the TMC statement. The distance would be around 3km.
Banerjee was the first regional leader of India who lashed out at the BJP government after the news broke of the gruesome killing of the girl.
Today, a team of Trinamool Congress, led by Rajya Sabha leader of the house for the party, Derek O' Brien, was prevented from entering the village where the girl's family lives. A member of the team, Pratima Mandal, even alleged that the UP police molested her.
Banerjee has also asked leaders of the party in all the blocks of Bengal to start a massive movement in their respective blocks against the rape and killing of the teenager. Her campaign against Yogi Adityanath will be a political one with an eye on the future—Yogi Adityanath, who has traded barbs with Mamata in the past, will likely campaign in the Bengal election next year.
Adityanath belongs to a caste which is similar to the caste of Bengal's Matua Community. A member of the Matua community, former MP Mamatabala Thakur, was also in the TMC team which tried to reach the girl's village today.
"Didi considers the Yogi government as one of the most oppressive governments in India," said a TMC leader.
Several other politicians of TMC will also hit the streets along with Banerjee and will also raise their voices against the alleged molestation of Mandal.
It seems COVID-19 is being seen as a thing of past in Bengal as both BJP and now the TMC are bringing out large gatherings at the time of the pandemic. As of October 2, West Bengal had 260,324 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and had suffered 5,017 deaths.
