The Army on Monday dismantled the Trinamool Congress’ dharna manch, a dais set up at Kolkata’s Mayo Road to protest against alleged humiliation of Bengalis in the BJP-ruled states, sparking a political controversy with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushing to the spot and terming the move “illegal and undemocratic”.

The protest site in the Maidan area is part of the Army’s Eastern Command’s headquarters.

The CM, who spoke with her party leaders who were staging the protest, said, “I respect the Army but when they work according to the BJP’s wishes, you can see what happens. Before dismantling the stage, they should have talked to police and consulted the Police Commissioner. They should have talked to our leaders also, or even with me. We are available any time. We said we will hold the programme only on Saturday and Sunday.”

According to the Army, the TMC’s permission for the protest had expired. The party, however, denied the claim.
The chief minister added, “When I was coming, some Army personnel were running away. I said, why are you running away? You are doing this under the order of the Defence Minister… I don’t need to take permission from (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi babu to stage a protest. We take permission from people to stage a protest.”

After her arrival, the steps of the dismantled stage were brought back. She climbed the stage along with Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma and announced that the TMC would shift the protest to Rani Rashmoni Avenue.

“That place is under the police, and we will take permission from them. We always take permission for every programme. We selected this venue because we wanted to stage the dharna at the feet of Mahatma Gandhi. We think that is our place. But, if they don’t want us to protest, it’s not a problem. We will sit at Rani Rashmoni Avenue,” she said.

The ruling party had launched the indefinite dharna in the third week of August.

TMC leader Baiswanar Chattopadhya said, “We personally informed the Army and also submitted an application to continue the protest up to December. But suddenly, some Army personnel came on Monday afternoon and started to dismantle the stage.”

“I never saw in my 40 years of political life that the Army is dismantling a protest stage of a political party. This is ridiculous. This is politically motivated. We are fighting for the pride of Bengalis and that is why they are trying to stop our protest,” he added.

In an official statement, the Army said: “Indian Army (Local Military Authority, Kolkata) gives permission for events in the Maidan area for a duration of two days, as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. The permission for events more than three days needs to be obtained from the MoD (Ministry of Defence). The permission for conducting the event was provided for two days but the stage has been put up for almost a month. Several reminders had been sent to the organisers for removal of the temporary structure. It, however, was not removed. Thereafter, the Kolkata police was informed and the structure was being removed by the Army.”