‘Won’t budge an inch’: Abhishek
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, on Thursday evening, called for an indefinite sit-in agitation outside Raj Bhavan which will continue till Governor C V Ananda Bose meets his party delegation.
“We want two clarifications from the Bengal Governor. Whether 20 lakh workers from Bengal worked under MGNREGA? If yes, then what law was used to withhold their wages for the past two years? We will not accept this tradition of “zamindari”. One cannot ask poor people to work and then refuse them wages. Bengal will fight against this. We will continue our peaceful agitation outside Raj Bhawan. I will stay here and will not budge an inch till the Hon’ble Governor meets our delegation and answers these two questions,” said Banerjee.
He also said that a delegation of 25 people comprising 10 job card holders and 15 TMC leaders under the leadership of Subrata Bakshi will meet a representative of Governor House, or the police personnel at the main entrance, and hand over a memorandum of their demands. Banerjee clarified that the delegation will not enter Raj Bhawan as the Governor is away from his residence. ‘Zamindar BJP hatao, Desh Bachao’ slogans were heard outside Raj Bhavan.
Suman Kanti, a farmer from East Burdwan, who had arrived in Kolkata on Thursday morning to attend the protest, said: “PM Modi wants to starve poor people in Bengal. He is only friends with the corporates to accumulate wealth. Bengal has a history of rising against such zamindari culture. We have done it numerous times in history before. We will do it again.”
Hitting out at the Governor, Banerjee said: “Governor, in reply to a written communiqué to our Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, said he can meet us in Siliguri. Later, we came to know that he would be staying there for a couple of hours and finally fly to Delhi. Why did he not stay back to assess the condition in North Bengal. We had announced our plan to meet the Governor much earlier.”
Banerjee said: “ED has summoned me and my family but I have not gone anywhere. I am right here among the people. Why are the BJP leaders fleeing?”
Earlier in the day, lakhs of TMC supporters joined the rally that started from Moharkunj, with Banerjee spearheading the “Raj Bhawan March”, and finally ended at Raj Bhawan.
“We stand resolute in our determination, unwavering in the face of BJP’s desperate attempts to silence us. Despite their oppressive tactics and ruthless suppression of our peaceful protests in Dilli, Bengal remains undeterred. Come what may, we won’t bow down to the Zamindars. Lakhs of people descended on Kolkata’s streets on Thursday as Trinamool Congress marched to Raj Bhavan seeking to meet the Governor over Bengal’s rightful due under MGNREGA & Awas Yojana being withheld by the BJP-led Central government,” TMC tweeted.
