After panchayat poll win, TMC gears up for record turnout at Martyr’s Day rally

At the rally Banerjee is likely to announce the party’s roadmap for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in May next year, party insiders said. She may also clarify her stand on siding with the Congress to fight against the BJP, they added.

A senior TMC leader said, “Even after the panchayat election victory, the party rank and file is demoralised over allegations of rigging and violence. Our top leaders will try to boost their morale on the rally day.”

At least 55 people have been killed in poll-related violence in the state so far.
Nearly 3,000 police personnel and 1,000 traffic police personnel will be on the streets in Kolkata on Friday to manage the crowd, officials said.

In various districts, party leaders, including MPs and MLA, have started preparation of the rally in their areas. They are organising small gatherings and meetings to appeal to people to attend the July 21 rally at Kolkata’s Esplanade East. TMC second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee recently said that the July 21 rally breaks its previous record of turnout every year.

On July 21, 1993, police had opened fire at protesters when thousands of Youth Congress supporters demanding that voter’s identity card be made the sole required document for voting gathered in different parts of Kolkata (then Calcutta) despite prohibitory orders. Scared of being outnumbered, the police opened fire, leading to death of 13 people.

Mamata Banerjee was then with the Congress. On the deployment of doctors for the rally, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to the Director of Health Services, saying , “I would like to draw your attention to the protest of the doctors’ forum against the deployment of medical workers, including doctors, para-medical employees, nurses, on the occasion of Martyrs’ Day, which is an annual event observed by a political party, and is in no way a government-sponsored event, or an event serving greater public interest.”