Left Front’s rally break for beautiful Kolkata

It was also agreed that 21 sensitive road points would be cleaned of hawkers to create parking space for cars. Kolkata Police has to submit a report soon on these aspects.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has been asked to do something about the shabby-looking buildings which populate the city. Unlike the time of Operation Sunshine, when the CPI(M) had thrown roadblocks in the way of the government’s efforts to clear Kolkata of hawkers, the party is behind the CM now.

‘‘If it’s democratic to protest and hold rallies, it’s also a serious business to see that the people don’t suffer,’’ says Anil Biswas, CPI(M) state secretary and a Politburo member.

Film director Mrinal Sen agrees. According to him, ‘‘The clean-up should have happened long ago. When we were young, we didn’t realise it wasn’t the right way to protest and harass people on the street. I support the Chief Minister’s effort to get Kolkata out of a bad old habit.’’ However, he fears, ‘‘People will question the order.’’

Both the judiciary and the police have been seeking such discipline from political parties. In an order on June 5 last year, a Calcutta High Court division bench had expressed shame at Kolkata’s ‘‘philosophy of no work and protest without purpose’’. A Kolkata Police Review 2001 had noted with disgust: ‘‘In the city of Kolkata, the day begins with a slogan and ends with a rally.’’

But before things change around the city, the government will have to win over the Opposition and even its own, often-petulant partners. Given the rancour between them, that’s not an easy task.

‘‘Wherever and whenever there’s violation of the rights of the working class by anyone, we would organise a protest there — be it in Kolkata or in Howrah,’’ says CPI leader Manju Kumar Mazumdar. ‘‘We would urge the CM to call an all-party meeting for a consensus before taking such a step,’’ state Congress general secretary Manas Buhian says. Another Left Front partner, Forward Bloc, advises the same.

Trinamool Congress leader Shovon Deb Chatterjee charges that the government move is nothing but an attempt to curtail their right to protest now that they were exposing its ‘‘all-round failures’’. ‘‘We go to Brigade Parade Ground or Shaheed Minar for big rallies and not for a small- or medium-size procession.’’

Another problem area could be the 2.75 lakh hawkers on Kolkata’s streets. ‘‘We won’t give up without an agitation,’’ says Saktiman Ghosh, Hawkers’ Sangram Committee chief.