Most of the opposition parties to attend January 19 rally: Mamata

Almost all opposition parties but one or two have confirmed their participation at the mega-rally scheduled in Kolkata on January 19 next year, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday.

The rally, to be held at the Brigade Parade Ground, is planned as a show of strength for the 63-year old Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief who is trying to emerge as a catalyst for the proposed opposition front that will take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 general elections.

“BJP hatao, desh bachao (Remove BJP, save the country) will be the slogan for the rally,” she told a meeting of TMC workers.

The rally was announced by Banerjee on July 21 at her party’s annual programme to commemorate the 1993 deaths of 13 Youth Congress workers in police firing while protesting against alleged scientific rigging by the then Left Front government.

Without disclosing which parties had confirmed their participation and which had not, Banerjee instructed her party leaders to start holding meetings at the booth level rightaway and create wall graffiti to draw the crowds at the rally.

“All parties except one or two have confirmed participation. Block-level presidents should begin booth-level meetings right away to prepare for the meeting. There should be at least 30 wall graffiti in each booth.”

From Banerjee’s statement, it appears that the Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have withheld consent to attend the rally, an official familiar with the matter said.

CPI(M) central committee member Rabin Deb confirmed as much. “CPI(M) leaders will certainly not attend. As far as we know, Left Front partners such as CPI and RSP will also stay away,” he said.

Congress MLA Abdul Mannan, who is the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, did not give away much when asked if Congress would attend the rally. The decision on participation would depend on the Congress high command in Delhi, he said.

BJP Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh did not miss the chance to take a jibe at Banerjee. “Though she is dreaming of becoming Prime Minister by uniting opposition leaders, it will remain a pipe dream,” he said.

Significantly, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu is supposed to meet Banerjee in Kolkata on November 19 to persuade her to attend the meeting of opposition leaders he is organising in Delhi on November 22.

While announcing the January 19 rally of non-BJP parties, Banerjee had said that she would invite Kerala’s communist chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan too, though CPI(M) has been her bitterest opponent down the years.

At Friday’s meeting, Banerjee trained guns for the first time at the BJP’s Bengal rath yatra scheduled to start on December 5. Terming it “Ravana yatra”, she directed Trinamool leaders to organise processions along the yatra route the following day.

“These processions should be held the very next day along the same route to purify the road through which the rath travels,” she said. “These are not raths (chariots). These are airconditioned buses with five-star luxury.”

Bharatiya Janata Party Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh hit back, saying, “She is increasing our honour by deciding to follow us. It shows how seriously she is taking us.”

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha added, “Trinamool is afraid of BJP’s growing popularity in Bengal. Let them follow us.”

The chief minister said Trinamool would field candidates in Assam and Jharkhand for the 2019 elections.

“We will focus on areas where Bengalis are concentrated,” said a minister not wishing to be named.

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