Amid reports of growing dissent within Trinamool Congress, the party chief Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday, started her day-long dharna in central Kolkata to protest against alleged post-poll attacks on party workers, including her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Before launching the protest at Rani Rashmoni Avenue, the former West Bengal chief minister paid tribute at the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
She was accompanied by the party's old guards, Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Derek O'Brien, Kalyan Banerjee and Dola Sen. However, most of the fresh faces who won the assembly seats on TMC tickets were absent during the protest.
Banerjee claimed that they are not being allowed to carry out the protest peacefully. She alleged that after stealing votes, the BJP is harassing the TMC MLAs and councillors and alleged that the saffron party is trying to break TMC.
"We were not given permission to set up a stage or use microphones," Banerjee said, while addressing the crowd using a megaphone.
She had earlier dared the police to arrest her and said she would hold a protest in Delhi if she was not allowed to do so in Kolkata.
The former chief minister has been claiming that the saffron party is using "money and power" to cause defections in her party.
She has also claimed that so far, as many as 12 people have been killed ever since the assembly elections, and many others have been forced to flee.
On Monday, she was quoted as saying, "The way you assaulted the MP of the second-largest opposition party is shocking. Doctors were called, yet hospitals were allegedly instructed not to provide treatment. What kind of absurd and authoritarian conduct is this?"
During the protest, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee too potshots at Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, calling him a "murderer."
He said that the party would organise even larger protest demonstrations in the coming days.
Addressing the Kolkata Police Commissioner and police personnel, Kalyan Banerjee remarked that their salaries were paid from the public exchequer under the Constitution and not by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
He urged them to discharge their duties in accordance with the law and the Constitution, adding that times change and everyone should keep that in mind while carrying out their responsibilities.
“Therefore, please perform your duties in accordance with the law and the Constitution. Times change, and everyone should remember this while carrying out their responsibilities,” he said.
