Mamata, Abhishek to lead march against harassment of Bengali-speaking workers
The Statesman | 17 July 2025
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the chairperson of the Trinamul Congress and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will take part in a rally tomorrow to protest against the harassment of Bengali- speaking people by various state governments.
The rally will start from College Square and end at Dorina crossing via College Street, Nirmal Chandra Street, SN Banerjee Road to reach Dorina crossing. A senior police officer said the procession may turn right from Nirmal Chandra Street to reach the destination via Ganesh Chandra Avenue and Chittaranjan Avenue.
Two party MPs from the city Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Mala Roy and 14 MLAs will take part in the rally. Ministers including Firhad Hakim Aroop Biswas, Sujit Bose, Javed Khan, Bratya Basu and Chandrima Bhattacharya will take part in the procession.
The party leadership posted on the party’s X handle: “Bangla Birodi @BJP4India first tried to choke Bengal by freezing Central funds. When they failed, they shifted gears, resorting to the persecution of Bengali speaking workers in BJP ruled states.”
Party leaders, including Mohua Moitra, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Dr Shashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh have come down heavily on the Centre after the workers who had valid identity cards were detained and even pushed back to Bangladesh. Trinamul leaders, including Dola Sen, Sagarika Ghosh along with some workers staged at dharna at Jamunanagar after the electricity and water supply lines in their houses were disconnected.
The Trinamul Congress wrote further: “So @BJP4India would now have made us believe that Aadhaar cards are being issued by the state governments and not by the UIDAI, a statutory authority under the jurisdiction of @ GOI_MeitY headed by half minister @AshwiniVaishnaw?”
Unprecedented police arrangements have been made for tomorrow’s rally. Senior police officers headed by the commissioner of police Manoj Kumar Verma visited Dorina Crossing and held meeting regarding tomorrow’s security arrangements. As the procession will pass through congested residential and business areas, there will be plainclothes policemen on the pavement.
Meanwhile, the construction of the makeshift stage for the 21 July Martyrs’ Day observation of the Trinamul Congress began today. Senior police officers and Trinamul Congress leaders will oversee the construction. The party expects record number attendees at the meeting where Miss Banerjee will be the chief speaker. This is the last 21 July meeting before the Assembly elections, scheduled to be held in 2026.