Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday took out colourful ‘shobhayatras’ (processions) to herald the Bengali New Year amid the political storm over the violence in Murshidabad district.
Senior TMC leader and state Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya led the party’s rally in south Kolkata where many of the participants, a large number of them women, wore traditional
Bengali attire. Amid the beating of the dhak (drum) and singing of ‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jol’ (we love the soil of Bengal, the rivers of Bengal), Bhattacharya and the participants walked along Rasbehari Avenue. “On this day of ‘Bangla Nabobarsho’ (New Year) let us take the pledge to defeat forces which want to disrupt the centuries-old amity and peaceful co-existence of Hindus and Muslims and other communities in Bengal. The land of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam will never support any divisive ploy. This had also been asserted in unequivocal terms by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee earlier,” she said.
Without directly naming the BJP, she said: “Those peddling hatred and division in society will never be accepted by the people of Bengal despite plotting conspiracies.”