Kolkata: Trinamool Congress’s annual Martyrs’ Day event and the BJP’s mass agitation will coincide on July 21, leading to a clash between the two political parties in West Bengal. While Trinamool Congress will hold its Martyrs’ Day event in central Kolkata, the BJP plans to organize protests in front of block development offices throughout the state. The BJP’s agitation is intended to protest against the violence and bloodshed witnessed during the recently-concluded panchayat polls.
Martyrs’ Day is observed on July 21 each year in remembrance of 13 Youth Congress workers who were shot dead by the police during a rally led by Mamata Banerjee, who was then a Congress leader, in 1993. The incident occurred when the Left Front, led by the CPI(M), was in power in the state.
State BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar announced the mass agitation programs during a protest rally in Kolkata. Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, also participated in the rally and highlighted the widespread violence and bloodshed that took place during the panchayat polls. He stated that protest demonstrations would be organized in front of the block development offices on July 21.
However, Sukanta Majumdar and Dilip Ghosh, the national Vice President of the BJP, will be unable to participate in the protests as they will be in Delhi attending the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which begins on Thursday.