India News | TMC to Hold Martyrs' Day Rally on Friday, Likely to Spell Strategy for Opp Unity
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The TMC, awash with its victory in the recent rural poll in Bengal but grappling with charges of alleged corruption by its leaders, is set to hold its annual Martyrs' Day rally on Friday where it will reaffirm its determination to defeat BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Kolkata, July 20 (PTI) The TMC, awash with its victory in the recent rural poll in Bengal but grappling with charges of alleged corruption by its leaders, is set to hold its annual Martyrs' Day rally on Friday where it will reaffirm its determination to defeat BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
According to sources in the TMC, which is part of the newly formed alliance I.N.D.I.A, the party leadership is likely to spell out at the rally its strategy for strengthening opposition unity and its design to counter the BJP in the state.
"The July 21 Martyrs' Day Rally holds a special place in our hearts. We have been dedicating this day to our martyrs and party workers," West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said in a video message.
The feisty TMC chief and the party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited the meeting venue at Esplanade in the heart of the city to look into the preparations for the mega event, which is attended by supporters from across the state.
According to a senior TMC leader a number of workers of other parties, specially the BJP are likely to join TMC at the occasion. "Our party supremo will speak about the party's policies and give a direction for next year's Lok Sabha poll," he said.
The rally, considered to be a demonstration of TMC's mass support and strength, is being held this year in the midst of a challenging period for the party. The time since the last edition of the rally in 2022 is marked by arrests of its leaders in cases investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Last year just a day after the Martyrs' Day Rally, top TMC leader and state minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the ED in the school teacher recruitment scam. Chatterjee is still in prison.
The CBI arrested two other party MLAs in the same case in the last few months. TMC's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal was arrested by CBI in August last year for his alleged involvement in cattle smuggling.
TMC has remained the dominant political force in Bengal despite its failure to expand nationally and losing its national party status. It decisively won the recent rural poll, which was conducted under the supervision of central forces amid allegations of violence and bloodshed.
It bagged 79 per cent of the gram panchayats, 92 per cent of the panchayat samitis and all the zilla parishads.
"After a challenging year marked by the arrest of leaders, we find solace in the massive victory in the panchayat election. It marked a sweet end to the journey since the July 21 rally last year," another TMC leader said.
The Martyrs' Day Rally is the biggest event in TMC's calender every year and commemorates the killing of 13 Congress workers on the day in 1993 during a demonstration by the state Youth Congress. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was then the president of the state Youth Congress.
Even after Banerjee formed TMC in 1998 she has continued to observe Martyr's Day every year.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)