Mamata govt bans rallies in protest hub of Kolkata

THE OPPOSITION WAS QUICK TO DENOUNCE THE MOVE AS AN ATTEMPT BY THE TMC GOVERNMENT TO SILENCE ITS RIVALS

KOLKATA: After serving as Kolkata’s cradle of countless agitation for about 200 years, College Square will soon fall silent.

Acting on a complaint from a research scholar of Calcutta University, which is located near the historic protest venue, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed authorities to not allow rallies and agitations at the square.

The complainant had claimed that they faced difficulties in carrying out their academic research because of blaring microphones in the square, which accommodates more than half a dozen education institutes.

“Meetings and rallies should be stopped in College Square. Political parties do it. I also do it, but only twice a year. Others keep doing it all the time. How can students study if people are raising slogans constantly on microphones? Trinamool Congress won’t conduct any meetings there, and all parties must follow,” the chief minister said on Thursday.

The Opposition was quick to denounce the move as an attempt by the TMC government to silence its rivals.

“College Square has been a spot of agitation and protest since the days of Henry Derozio and Young Bengal movement in the early nineteenth century. Mamata Banerjee is simply using an excuse to silence us,” remarked CPI(M) politburo member and Lok Sabha MP Mohammed Salim.