Explained: July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally and its importance for Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress

Every year, lakhs of TMC workers assemble in the city to listen to Banerjee and participate in the mega political show. The city comes to a complete standstill, and every major road is filled with party workers from across the state. In terms of strength, the turnout at the rally could be compared with the Left Front’s annual rallies at the Brigade Parade Ground before 2011, when the Left was in power in the state.

This year’s Shahid Dibas rally is being held after a gap of two years — the 2020 and 2021 editions could not be organised in person due to the coronavirus pandemic — and will be the first after the TMC swept to power for the third time in 2021. The party has been aiming for an attendance record on Thursday.

What is the July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally?

The July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally is the TMC’s flagship annual political event. Every year on this date, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee addresses a public meeting outside Victoria House in Esplanade in the heart of Kolkata to commemorate the deaths of 13 people who were killed in police firing during a demonstration by the West Bengal Youth Congress, which was then led by Banerjee, on July 21, 1993. The incident is seen as a turning point in Mamata’s political career.

TMC supporters at the Martyr’s Day rally on Thursday. (Express Photo: Partha Paul)

The Left Front government was in power in West Bengal then. The Left alliance, led by the dominant partner CPI(M), had won a sweeping mandate in the Assembly elections of 1991, and the late Jyoti Basu was Chief Minister. The Congress, the main opposition in West Bengal, had been accusing the Left of having rigged the elections.

Mamata, who had entered Lok Sabha from the Kolkata Dakshin seat in 1991, was at the forefront of the Congress’s agitation in Bengal, even when she was a Minister for a couple of years in the government of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. Among the Congress’s main demands was that photo voter IDs be made mandatory to ensure fair elections.

So what happened on July 21 in 1993?

In December 1992, Mamata had been harassed and molested by police before being arrested from Writers’ Buildings, the West Bengal government secretariat. Mamata had taken a physically challenged girl who had been allegedly raped by CPM cadres, to Writers’ to protest.

To protest against the attack on Banerjee, and to demand that voter photo-ID cards be made mandatory to ensure free and fair polling, the Youth Congress planned a march to Writers’.

The march was organised on July 21, 1993. Thousands of Congress workers assembled in the city with a demand that voter-IDs be made the only required document for voting, to put an end to the alleged “scientific rigging” of elections by the communists. It was planned that workers and supporters of the Congress would converge on Writers’ from multiple directions and lay siege to the state secretariat.

Chief Minister Basu was in no mood to allow the protest to go ahead, and he had made his intentions clear early on. Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed in and around the state secretariat and on Mayo Road and Red Road, major streets leading to Dalhousie Square, where Writers’ is located.

A procession of Congress workers marching down Mayo Road was stopped by police at the crossing of Mayo Road and Red Road. A scuffle ensued, and Congress workers threw stones at the police, who responded with a lathi charge. But the police found themselves outnumbered, and opened fire. Thirteen people were killed in the firing.

Mamata Banerjee herself was protesting at another location. She was beaten up badly, and had to be admitted to hospital for treatment.

Trinamool Congress workers and supporters crowd Sealdah station on Martyr’s Day. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)

How did July 21 become a TMC event?

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Congress observed July 21 as Martyrs’ Day. However, the event was held in a low-key manner, as the Congress leadership was accused of being soft on the Left Front government in Bengal.

Mamata was still with the Congress. She was a rising youth leader, a fiery street fighter who had given notice of her potential back in 1984 when, not yet 30, she had defeated the CPI(M) titan Somnath Chatterjee at the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat. The attack on her brought Mamata huge public sympathy.

In 1998, Mamata left the Congress and formed the Trinamool Congress. The newly-launched party decided to hold the annual July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally in the Esplanade area, where the incident had taken place. It never failed to hold the event even when it was in the opposition until 2011, and over the years the Shahid Dibas rally became the TMC’s flagship event with Mamata as the key speaker.

After the TMC came to power in 2011, the party turned the rally into a mega political event and a show of strength. In 2011, the rally was held at the Brigade Parade Ground instead of the usual Victoria House venue, to celebrate the TMC’s victory in the Assembly elections. The 2011 Martyrs’ Day rally also witnessed Bengali film and television personalities on the dais to show their support to Mamata.

After becoming Chief Minister, Mamata set up an inquiry into the 1993 police firing. In its report, the commission of inquiry said the police action was unprovoked and unconstitutional, and that the officers had acted to please their political bosses. It recommended that a compensation of Rs 25 lakh be paid to the families of each of the deceased.

Three decades after the incident, and with Mamata now CM, how is the event observed these days?

The rally is held amid tight security arrangements in front of Victoria House in Esplanade. A huge makeshift stage is erected to accommodate party leaders, celebrities, and invitees. Mamata delivers a typically fiery speech to the cadre, and usually announces the party’s political roadmap for the coming year.

Over the years, Mamata has used the July 21 platform to share her party’s strategy for state and national politics. On some occasions, she has welcomed leaders from the opposition into the TMC at the event. A large number of film and television personalities, many of whom are TMC MLAs and MPs, take the stage and cultural programmes are held before leaders address the masses.

The one-of-a-kind event is attended by workers from districts far from Kolkata. It gives Mamata, who has always been a mass leader with a strong grassroots connect, an opportunity to sense for herself the pulse of the people and to set her agenda accordingly. This is also a way to gauge her party’s organisational strength in the state — the size and enthusiasm of the turnout are useful indicators, especially before a major election.