Hours before the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests were called off in Delhi on Saturday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee reached the spot where her party was to hold protests for accountability in the education sector.
The party supremo arrived sitting pillion on a two-wheeler, demanding to know why her leaders, including councilor Baiswanor Chattopadhyay and MLA Kunal Ghosh, were detained by the Kolkata Police for assembling at the spot on the CIT Road and for their supporters causing inconvenience.
An appeal was put in at the Calcutta High Court around 12 PM to hold the rally by the student wing of the party, for which permission was denied at around 3:00 PM. The rally was to begin around 2:00 PM.
“Let me talk to my lawyers to release our boys and girls,” said Mamata Banerjee, adding that she supported the CJP student movement even after news came in of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.
The meeting between CJP representatives with the Union government had been pending at the time.
Mamata referred to the resignation as BJP’s defeat saying: "Jo darr gaya, woh marr gaya (Those who got scared, those people died)."
The TMC supremo also said at the time that she would still stick to her plan to go to Delhi on Monday to show solidarity with CJP.
It was later on that the CJP announced it would end its protest as the Centre had met all its demands.
Mamata and TMC MP Dola Sen were seen holding a copy of the Indian Constitution.
Sen and another MP, Derek O'Brien, then proceeded to the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lal Bazar to get their leaders and supporters released.
“About the movement which has taken momentum and atrocities by BJP, Mamata Banerjee supports their resilience to hold protests despite the odds,” said Kunal Ghosh before he was detained.
The police had asked TMC leaders to abide by the HC order. Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya refused to grant permission to the TMC's Chattra Parishad to hold protests against the NEET exam paper leak in solidarity with the CJP.
While TMC placed forward arguments in court that communication was given to the police on July 23 to hold the rally with two locations suggested, the court asked why the party did not join the Friday student protest from Sealdah to Dharmatala, which was granted to the Left Front parties, which saw others joining in.
After protests went out of hand at Dharmatala, the court said it could not allow another rally with the situation likely going out of hand, and hence denied permission for a TMC rally.
